Insight:: Sociology and Critique of Today's Cultural Issues

Since May 2008 I have been writing a Blog known as The Reasoned Society. In the Blog I have written on many topics including science, religion, politics, immigration, art, diabetes, the Vegan Diet and other health issues, movie reviews, important people, myths, and a host of other topics. My preference in exploring such topics is to use something called, “sociological imagination.” Sociological imagination can be considered as the capacity to see things socially, how they interact, and influence each other. Sociology itself is called the “science of society.” And, the methods of acquiring knowledge of a sociological issue involve analysis of data obtained through either or both quantitative (highly scientific and empirical) and qualitative (more subjective) approaches to data collection. Where did the idea of sociological imagination come from? In 1959 a famous sociologist, C. Wright Mills, wrote a book titled, The Sociological Imagination. In it he described the type of insight offered by the discipline of sociology. The term is used in introductory textbooks in sociology to explain the nature of sociology and its relevance in daily life. Mills defined the sociological imagination as, “the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society.” It is really the application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. So, what is it we’re trying to achieve in taking a sociological look at each issue? Before explaining or answering that question, it must be pointed out that every individual is affected or connected in some way with the larger or broader social issues in society. To understand causation of that connection there needs to be a thorough analysis of social outcomes that are, in turn, shaped by social context, actors, and social actions. So how do sociologists view or define these terms? It is understanding that some things in society may lead to a certain outcome. The actors mentioned in the definition are things like norms and motives, the social context are like country and time period and the social action is the action, decisions, or things one does that affects other people. The actions one takes are shaped by: the situation one is in, the values one possess, and the way other people act. They are examined as to how they relate to some sort of social outcome. And, the most critical part of understanding today’s issues is the sociological analysis done to explain it, and the underlying sociological imagination that produced our need to explore the issue in the first place. The sociological imagination is the ability to see things socially and how they interact and influence each other. To have a sociological imagination, a person must be able to pull away from the situation and think from an alternative point of view. It requires one to "think ourselves away from our daily routines and look at them anew." To acquire knowledge, it is important to break free from the immediacy of personal circumstances and put things into a wider context, rather than following a routine. The actions of people are much more important than the acts themselves. Said another way, the sociological imagination is the capacity to shift from one perspective to another. Mills believed in the power of the sociological imagination to connect "personal troubles to public issues." In some introductory sociology classes, the sociological imagination is brought up, along with Mills and how he characterized the sociological imagination as a critical quality of mind that would help men and women "to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and of what may be happening within themselves." In the chapters ahead it is my fondest hope that imaginative sociological thought has gone into the presentation of the various topics covered in this book.