Applying the Sociological Imagination Essay Guidelines Essay

Sociological Examination

Developing an appropriate understanding of the connection between history and biography is key to building a realistic and wide view of the major causes of everyday challenges hence a possibility of finding solutions to them. Fortunately, past research has produced some of the most useful concepts that can be used to analyze such situations and arrive at the most appropriate solutions. One such concept is C.W Mill’s social imagination concept. Mills describes social imagination as the ability to develop an understanding of the relationship that exists between wide social outcomes and personal experience (Staubmann, 2021). The implication is that social imagination can be described as the influence insight that an individual’s everyday routine has on society and the influence the society has. Therefore, an understanding is key to the promotion of an individual’s active involvement when approaching public issues. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to apply the concept of sociological imagination to a personal situation of observing a child in the neighborhood born and grow in poverty.

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Personal Explanation

As earlier highlighted, this essay will explore poverty in the light of sociological imagination. My personal situation is observing two children born and brought up in poverty in our neighborhood. Some years ago, a white man and his African American moved into our neighborhood and lived as a couple. They lived alone for a period of two years, and they were struggling to make ends meet, and when the woman became pregnant, the husband apparently left, never to be seen again. The woman struggled through the pregnancy, and with the help of well-wishers, she managed to carry the pregnancy to term and gave birth to twin boys. However, life soon became unbearable as she could not go to work to pay her bills, including sufficient food and rent. She received an eviction notice but requested more time due to the fact that she was alone and had two young boys to fend for. Fortunately, she was offered a four months reprieve as she looked for alternatives.

As the four months period was getting to a close, the woman was becoming worried every day. My family played a role in providing her with at least a meal a day, and I was tasked with delivering the meal, and I could also help with house chores whenever I could. Fortunately, a community health nurse moved into our neighborhood in the third month of the grace period, and she got interested in the issue. She asked if she could help connect the woman with a charitable organization that would support her in raising the children and also finds a suitable job to help her pay her bills. This marked the turning point as the woman could get enough money to feed her kids and pay her bills efficiently.

Social Imagination

            The situation I have described in the previous section greatly impacted how I view poverty and what roles society should play in poverty eradication. Society and social forces affect the situation in various ways. Society classifies people into different classes, the wealthy, the middle class, and the poor (Keirns et al.,2018). In addition, people at times argue that some individuals can rise from poverty to have a better income level. However, none chooses economic status. The implication is that even though most people commit themselves to hard work, it is not easy to choose whether to be rich or poor. Indeed, society has a critical role to play in an individual’s future and present financial status.

Sociological imagination plays a key role in helping individuals differentiate between personal circumstances and social levels. Developing an adequate understanding of the two enhances decision-making, which helps an individual deal with the social forces which individuals face. Being that the twins were born in poverty by a poor single mother is not an indication that the children were to stay in poverty forever; instead, the children grew up looking at their mother struggling to make ends meet. Hence they put their effort into education. Even though their effort in education was not to bring an immediate reward, it was a long-term investment that would one day help them move out of poverty. The children have been growing, and as teenagers now, they understand what they need to do to fight their poverty. The societal forces and societal classification has made the twins focus on their education since they have realized that this will be the only way to change their family narrative.

The situation where this family was can best be described through the conflict theory as the society is full of competition; hence individuals have to strive hard for the limited available resource. The woman’s husband was already struggling to pay their bills before he eventually left, as he perceived that giving birth to twins would put incredible pressure on him.  The world has individuals from various social classes who have to strive to get the few available opportunities, hence competition (Keirns et al.,2018). The governments also sometimes keep more resources, which then leads to unequal structure. As such, those who have more resources flex their power and influence muscles to ensure that their social class remains instance. The implication is that those with few resources have to strive and hassle to get their way up. Therefore, the poverty experienced by the family in our neighborhood was caused by the state, as the parents could not afford good education to secure better jobs.

Data And Statistics

            Poverty is a phenomenon that has not only affected individuals in the USA but in other countries throughout the world too. Poverty rates in the US have had negative impacts on individuals and the local, state, and federal governments. Recent research has shown children coming from economically disadvantaged or poor backgrounds have a higher tendency to perform poorly in school (Plucker & Peters, 2018). Indeed, it was evident in the family who moved into our neighborhood. The woman confessed that their parent could not afford fees for good schools, and it was also difficult for them to provide for their basic needs adequately. This substantially impacted their school performance; hence they could not secure good jobs. In addition, recent statistics also show that African Americans are more likely to experience poverty as opposed to other races in the US. Indeed, these statistics hold true for the family described in the initial sections. According to Akee et al. (2019), African Americans are generally poorer and earn less as compared to their white counterparts of other races. As of 2021, the poverty rate in the US was 11.6%, translating to nearly 38 million people living in poverty.

Conclusion

            Poverty is a societal prole that has negatively impacted generations and generations, and indications are still there that it will affect generations to come. From the conflict theory perspective, poverty is a societal problem that stems from the inadequacy of resources, which then prompts people to compete. However, it is evident that the competition ground is not fair since the rich usually use their authority and power to gain an unfair advantage so that they maintain their status and protect their interests. The social imagination gives hope to those living in poverty since it enables them to understand that their situation is a societal issue and not their fault. It is also important for an individual to use Mill’s concept of social imagination to change their undesirable situation but not to explain their position. Therefore, when an individual finds themselves in a situation such as poverty, such a situation should not bar them from achieving their set objectives.

References

Akee, R., Jones, M. R., & Porter, S. R. (2019). Race matters: Income shares, income inequality, and income mobility for all US races. Demography, 56(3), 999–1021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-019-00773-7

Keirns, N. J., Strayer, E., Griffiths, H., Vyain, S., Bry, J. D., Cody-Rydzewski, S., … & Sadler, T. (2018). Introduction to Sociology 2e: OpenStax.

Plucker, J. A., & Peters, S. J. (2018). Closing poverty-based excellence gaps: Conceptual, measurement, and educational issues. Gifted Child Quarterly, 62(1), 56–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986217738566

Staubmann, H. (2021). C. Wright Mills’ The sociological imagination and the Construction of Talcott Parsons as a conservative grand theorist. The American Sociologist, 52(1), 178-193. Doi: 10.1007/s12108-020-09463-z

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The purpose of this essay is to apply C. W. Mills’s Sociological Imagination concept to explain a personal situation. The essay will demonstrate the student’s ability to use sociological concepts & theories learned in the course, to describe a personal situation. The topic is left to the student’s discretion.

The Essay paper should have the following 5 content areas:

1. Introduction: In this first content area, write a paragraph introducing C. W. Mills’s concept of sociological imagination, and give a general overview of how you will be applying it to the personal situation that you will discuss in your paper.

2. Personal Explanation: In this second content area, describe your personal situation/topic. Based on whether the situation is a current one or a past one, describe how you dealt or are dealing with it. You can also pick a situation from a person’s life who is closely related to you or whose experience affected you. You should know the person well enough to write the essay.

Describe what caused the problem, who were involved, what were others’ and your roles in the situation, and if a resolution was reached. This section is all about your account of your situation and should be no longer than four paragraphs (3/4 – 1 page).

3. Sociological Imagination: In this third content area, analyze your personal situation by applying sociological imagination, i.e., examine how society and social forces affected your situation. This section should be the most substantial portion of your essay. You should use terms and concepts from at least 3 different chapters from the textbook, and one sociological theory.

4. Data/Stats: Utilize at least 2 statistics or research studies from the textbook or outside sources such as the Galen College online library. The references should be scholarly and should be relevant to your situation (E.g., Inclusion of divorce rates in the US if the topic is on Divorce; inclusion of poverty rates, crime and victimization rates, or suicide rates if the topic is either on Poverty or Crime). Citing at least one outside source is required.

5. Conclusion: Write a wrap-up conclusion summarizing the major finding/themes in your paper. This should be no more than a paragraph.

Your essay should be 4-6 pages in length (excluding the title page and the references page) and should be double-spaced. You will lose points if your essay is shorter than 4 full pages of content. The font should be 12-point Calibri or Times New Roman. Use APA format for your entire essay, including for references and in-text citations and edit your work carefully for spelling and grammar.

Your essay should be 4-6 pages in length (excluding the title page and the references page). It should be double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5” x 11”) with a 1” margin on all sides. The font should be 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri. Use APA formatting throughout your essay and cite any sources you use.