Preview

The Usefulness of “the Sociological Imagination” in Relation to Gender, Social Inequality and Suicide

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1778 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Usefulness of “the Sociological Imagination” in Relation to Gender, Social Inequality and Suicide
The Usefulness of “The Sociological Imagination” in Relation to Gender, Social Inequality and Suicide

Sociological imagination is the “quality of mind” (Mills, 1959: p. 4) that enables us to look outside our everyday life and see the entire society as we were an outsider with the benefit of acknowledge of human and social behaviour. It allows us to see how society shapes and influences our life experiences. Is the ability to see the general in the particular and to “defamiliarise the familiar” (Bauman 1990: p. 15). According to C. Wright Mills, it “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals” (Mills, 1959: p. 5). These experiences are affected by social changes so in order to understand them we need to look beyond them. This way, sociological imagination is very useful as it allows us to relate the situations in which we live our daily lives to global societal issues that affect us. However in this essay I am only going to discuss the usefulness of sociological imagination in relation to gender, social inequality and suicide.

Seeing the world sociologically also makes us aware of the importance of gender. Gender refers to the social aspects of differences and hierarchies between male and female. Every society attaches meanings to gender, giving woman and men different kind of work, responsibilities and dress codes. We tend to think that becoming a man or becoming women is a biological destiny. But sociological imagination allows us to see it in a different way. Butler argues that “There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender ... identity is performatively constituted by the very "expressions" that are said to be its results” (1990: p. 25). In other words, gender is a performance; gender is not who you are but what you do. Similarly West and Zimmerman states that “A person’s gender is not simply an aspect of what one is, but,



References: C. W. Mills, 1959. The Sociological Imagination (40th anniversary Ed.). Oxford University Press. Z. Bauman, 1990. Thinking Sociologically. B. Blackwell J C. West and D. H. Zimmerman, 1987. Doing gender: Gender and Society. Vol. 1. No. 2. P.140 Swedish family at http://www.thelocal.se/20232/20090623/ UNFPA, 2000. The State of World Population 2000: Lives Together, Worlds Apart: Men and Women in a Time of Change, p. 25. New York: UNFPA Plutarch quotes at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes Suicide rates by gender, Ireland, 1950- 2009 at http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/irel.pdf M J. Butler, 2004. Unduing gender. Routledge

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Sociological Imagination

    • 701 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What is sociological imagination? According to C. Wright Mills sociological imagination is the ability to see how individual experiences are connected to the larger society. Sociological perspective enables one to grasp connection to history and biography. History is the background and biography is the individual’s specific experiences. C.Wright Mills came up with the idea that in order for one to understand their personal lives the need to look beyond personal experiences and look at larger political, social, and economic issues of others. “It is the capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self -- and to see the relations between the two” (C. Wright Mills 3). Overall, sociological imagination is the awareness of the relationship between personal experience and society.…

    • 701 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Devor, Aaron, ed. Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender. New York, 1995. Print.…

    • 1154 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    C. Wright Mills, a sociologist who wrote The Sociological Imagination, believes that the sociological imagination enables an individual to comprehend that he or she is a part of a bigger picture in this world, and with that understanding they can then be able to create a link between his personal troubles and public issues. In his own words, Mills claimed “It is the capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self and to see the relations between the two” (p.2). Mills believed that being able to see the relationship between the ordinary lives of people and the wider social forces was the key to the sociological imagination. Fundamental to Mills’ theory is the differences between…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    According to Mills, the sociological imagination is “a quality of mind” that allows its possessor to employ information and develop reason in order to establish an understanding and a desire to apprehend the relationship between social and historical structures and one’s biography, which is their experiences and individual…

    • 1671 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the biggest problems today’s society has is change. Society fears the oncoming storm of liberal ideas as well as the ever changing mass of people who aren’t afraid to speak up about topics like “gender”, which is arguably as broad and debatable as they come. The amount of people educated in this topic, however, is not so extensive. Many people only have knowledge of what a man and woman should be based on their society’s rules. Others understand and accept that “gender only exists as a comparative quality” and choose to not divide “certain types of behaviors … as masculine or feminine” (Scantlebury). The problem of gender stereotyping and normalization has become more recognized over the…

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The concept of gender is used by sociologists to describe all the socially given attributes, roles, activities and responsibilities connected to being male or female in a given society. Our gender identity determines how we are perceived and how we are expected to think and act as women and men, because of the way society is organised” (March et al, 1999)…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Blah Jogging Around

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According to C. Wright Mills, what occurs in any one individual's life is interrelated with society as a whole. To possess sociological imagination as defined by Mills “To be aware of social stucture and to use it with sensibility IS to be capable of tracing such LINKAGES among great variety of milieux.” The sociological imagination helps give us the ability to understand the correlation of one's own biography, history, and traditions along with the knowledge of the social and historical influence society may have on that person or groups of people. Mills notion makes us want to investigate into an individual's biography and lifestyles, and place their findings within the surrounding circumstances in which events occur in order to see the whole picture of the society in which the individual lives.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The idea of having sociological imagination comes from the way people live and experience their lives. As a person grows, they develop troubles, perspectives and learn to possess qualities that create a biography. Every individual goes through certain experiences or troubles that enable them to withdraw from their routine and look at things differently. This particular way of thinking defines the thought of sociological imagination. Whenever a person takes ahold of biography and history and can use it to imagine life from a different perspective, they possess sociological imagination. This imagination we go through is an outcome of the troubles and discipline of society that come from our social norms, values, roles, and statuses. Another way…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everybody in today’s society experiences gender throughout his or her life. However, as a female, I have personally always been affected by the social construction of gender in my day-to-day life, whether I was aware of it or not. Gender is such a prominent aspect of life for everyone that we barely recognize the effect it has on us, especially when it’s constructed within our own families.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The central thesis is that a sociologist cannot understand the history of the society without understanding a life of an individual and vice versa. Mills argues that People do not recognize the connection of the patterns of their lives with the course of history. He directed that we are in a time of lack of enthusiasm and that in order to adjust the issues of society we must understand the society at the individual level. Sociological Imagination allows us to understand the life of individuals in the society and the history of the society as a whole. He posits that there are two types of sociological problems such as troubles and issues. And he demonstrates unemployment as an example, troubles are on the individual level, however, when the…

    • 174 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    C, Wright Mills

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The ability of an individual within society to recognize the world around us and to understand how it functions in correlation with one 's life is, the social imagination. “The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals.” (Mills, 1959, p. 3) In this paper, I will be discussing the various aspects of the sociological imagination in relation to one other contemporary article, (Benforado, 2010), as well as within my own life.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Traditional Gender Roles

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Richard T. Schaefer. “Social Construction of Gender”. Sociology 11th Edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1983-2008. 298-99…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Individuals tend to overlook the fact that significance problems in their life may be relative to society as a whole. C. Wright Mill’s The Sociological Imagination (1959) provides a framework to comprehend that an individual’s predicaments in life are connected with many others, in a broader sense societally. Mill (1959) develops the idea of using the sociological imagination that allows for individuals to have a better perception of why their problems may come as a result of society rather than putting forth the blame all to themselves. Having knowledge of the sociological imagination allows for a more conclusive analysis of the causes of personal problems being due to society playing a pivotal role. In the…

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of how gender is socially constructed is evaluated throughout chapter two of the book Thinking About Women by Margaret Andersen. The social construction of gender is thought to be the multiple different approaches in which the expectancy of being a girl, whom later becomes a woman, and being a boy, whom later becomes a man, is passed on through the society. Society differences are said to be the basis of gender identity in today’s society preferably more than the sex or biological differences are.…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through this course, “Introduction to Sociology”, my sociological imagination has been tested, questioned, and expanded. Sociologist Charles Wright Mills had explained that sociological imagination “enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society” and that “neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both” (Mills, 1959). I began this journey with what I thought was a good understanding of where I stand for various social issues that exist today. However, reaching the end of the course, I find myself to have opened up to new views and opinions by being exposed to different perspectives through my fellow classmates, scholarly articles, and the…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics