Divorse Essay

The sociological imagination was developed by Wright Mills in 1959. It referred to the ability of connecting biography with history (Mills, 1959).Meaning that it is an ability to connect what is happening in one’s personal life and the lives of others in the society that surrounds them therefore understanding the biography and history of an individual makes one understand the society completely. According to Mills (1959: 5) “Sociological imagination is a critical way of thinking in sociology which allows us to connect our lived experiences in the wider context of the sociological institution in which it occurs”. This essay is divided into three main sections. It will first describe sociological imagination, it will then go on to describe what divorce is and how sociological imagination can be used to explain it. Finally, some conclusions will be drawn from the explanation of divorce when applying the sociological imagination.
Sociological imagination is defined by Mills (1959: 15) “as recognition that what happens in an individual’s life and may appear purely personal has consequences that actually reflect much wider public issues”. Simply meaning the individual behaviour and biography are interrelated, one cannot be properly understood without understanding the other one. According to mills (1959: 15) “Sociological imagination gives a reflective view of what is happening in a society and explains the relationship of an individual in a society”. The main defining feature of sociological imagination is a reflective process between person troubles and public issues, showing how individuals are placed in a society and how that society simultaneously affects the individual and this helps in understanding of the formation of a societal structure (Mills, 1959). Using the sociological imagination is an important tool when studying social life as it enables the sociologists to view the world from outside subjective ideas (Giddens, 1997). Meaning that sociological imagination think ourselves away from the familiar routine of daily life in order to look at them anew (Ref).Sociological Imagination is a special type of critical thinking that Sociologists use to observe behavior and cultures. Mills (1959) described this unique type of critical thinking as awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past.
Divorce can be described as the legal of ending marriage, the separation of two people who were once married. A personal trouble, such as divorce, affects the individual on a personal level causing grief and stress. It is seen as major social problem in South Africa affecting many individuals on many levels as it is evoke emotions of sadness, distress, hurt and anger which can have a huge short-term effect on individuals (Mills, 1959). People divorce for different reasons, in most cases divorce is likely to occur amongst teenagers who are at the age of 19-20. The reason behind this is that some of them engage themselves in marriage not knowing the boundaries of marriage such as commitment; some marry for wrong reasons such as money, business purpose and inheritance (Ref). In some cases the teenagers do not make the decision to get married but parents do force them to ma to just because it is within their culture that a teenager should marry at the young age, for example in an Indian culture they is no problems in marrying at a younger age (fix it). When these teenagers get married they fail to understand what marriage is about and therefore they will fail to keep their marriage for so long simply because there is a lack of understanding of certain things in marriage. The other factors that contribute to an increase of divorces include peer pressure, feeling left out and decide of marrying someone just because all your friend have married; believing on the next, forgetting thatthe length of a relationship is not a measure of its long-term success meaning that the years spent on a dating relationship does not mean that it will be same years in marriage and lastly, marrying someone for the money that they have not the love that exist for each other (Break it in 2 or 3 sentences).
To apply sociological imagination, divorce can be seen as a personal problem but it does not end there but later in the process of divorce it becomes a societal problem. By saying that we mean that when divorce results it impact the lives of many people outside the divorcing family including many aspects of society. According to Mills(1959) divorce can become a societal problem when it rate becomes an issue by it increase in the society as well as by affecting political and economic aspects and directly affecting individuals through policies and laws in which they must obey such idea is referred as a reflexive process” (explain it in an easy way). Simply meaning that one cannot occur without the other. If only a few divorces occur within a society this can be seen as a personal problem of the people involved. However, if more people are getting divorced every year this can be seen as a public issue where institutions like laws need to be looked closed at ( Giddens, 1997)

To further explain what was said by Mills(1959), when the rates of divorce increases these individuals problems affects the social structure by becoming the public issue. This is what happens when divorce occurs , the government is affected as the new policies and laws must be made to accommodate for fair division of asserts and property so that each spouse get an equal share and custody laws also need to be developed (Mills,1959). For example; the custody of a child, sole custody and joint custody. The single parents faces problems after the divorce and their problems reflect back to the society since; they will need monetary support for their dependent children’s and that money will come from the tax payers. To support the point that personal problem can become societal problem, the tax payers has nothing to do with the divorce but at the end of the day their money will be used to support children in the form of grant payment.
However, using the Sociological Imagination provides insight into how divorce influences much more than the individual who is going through divorce and family. Divorce impacts the society in which an individual lives in several way, the bankruptcy would negatively affect the already unhealthy economy, low credit scores resulting in not being able to earn as much and therefore spend less on essentials and pushed deeper into a lower socioeconomic status (Mills, 1959) less spending will also fall which slows economic growth. Therefore divorce had become a public problem (How divorce can impact on kids).

In conclusion, the Sociological Imagination encourages observations such as this to better understand the implications of personal issues on a societal scale (put it in ur own words). Sociological imagination requires one to understand the concept of history and biography, the relationship that they have in a society. The understanding of sociological imagination allows an individual to have a better understanding of society and how the personal problems such as divorce can become a societal problem. (I want u to summarize what u wrote about divorce).