The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society (Mills, 2000). This is very important when trying to understand what society is and why it acts the way it does. Mainly, the observer seems to be able to take on another point of view or put themselves into the perspective of the object of observation when they are able to apply this method.
Early in his writing, C. Wright Mills states that this imagination is the most fruitful form of self consciousness (Mills, 2000). It appears to me that the observer, with understanding of the concept, is more likely to understand a social situation and come up with a reasonable solution than one that has yet to understand this idea. The main concern with this is not researching ones background to find out about them, but rather grasp how the past and present interact with society for these individuals. It is hard to understand various people, because it is hard to put yourself into the situation they are experiencing. But it is even harder to connect the lines between the historical and present statuses remaining completely non bias. To see the “general in the particular”, as Peter Berger states in “Sociology:12th edition,” is not possible without making this connection (Macionis, 2008).
The sociological imagination also helps individuals to know why they are successful or not. As society changes it may project wealth or depression upon many of us, but without the sociological imagination, people cannot see the reasons for their success or failure. According to C. Wright Mills, the “trap” people find themselves buried in day after day, may have resulted in an act of social forces, and not as the individual believes because of their personal failure. His example of the rich versus the poor child growing up replicates this “trap” as the child from the poor background has less chance to success than the rich child (Mills, 2000). In my understanding, we can then connect these social forces to find answers. With these details, we get a better view of how we are shaped due to our surrounding society. Most importantly we know now, why we find ourselves in our current positions. Thus we can better understand another individual’s social impacts and draw conclusions from them, applying the sociological imagination to many others to understand society as a whole, through the particular individuals. Also, the sociological imagination helps us see the real source of a problem. As explained on page two of C. Wright Mill’s essay, the personal troubles of an individual and the troubles of its “milieu”, which is the persons closed environment he or she is surrounded by, greatly enables us to see the general in the particular (Mills, 2000). It is due to this statement, I believe, that we are able to see the general cause or institution that is contributing to the malaise and richness of the individuals, instead of only seeing the individual as the cause pushing him closer into this social “trap”.
Mills explains how unemployment, for instance, can be a good example of this sort of analysis (Mills, 2000). He points out that if a small amount of people have no work, it appears that it is the individuals own fault. But it is to observe the economic situation, which in this case would be our institution that severely lacks in the form of providing jobs (Mills, 2000). Therefore the individual is not to blame, but the milieu the institutions forced upon the society. I think the significance to understanding social structure rests within his example and can make it easier for people to stop forcing themselves into this “trap” by knowing the real problem that caused a new problem within their milieu.
A study of suicides revealed that people in higher social statuses are more frequent to commit suicide (Macionis, 2008). It rest in the argument Berger presents of seeing the general in the particular. Clearly social forces are at work when statistics reveal such a difference suicides based on ones income.(Macionis, 2008). By analyzing smaller occurrences, looking for the big overall picture, the sociological imagination is what gives people meaning and understanding about their position in not only their milieu’s, but also outside of their trapped life. I believe it is a new technique to bring change and help the holder of this imagination to escape their box or “trap” in order to achieve significant social change.
In this society, money is the most important resource of survival. My decision to attend college was based on economic dependence on money that college degrees will end up providing to me by furthering my education and learning valuable skills necessary to perform a high paying job. In my understanding it is society that forces this milieu of “money” or “no money” on us. The difference is within the low and high paid work provided by society. But essentially the milieu is forced upon us due to this fact. We have no choice anymore whether we want to attend college and actually learn for ourselves what we are really interested in. There are several choices to be made within the milieu but what really caused me to attend college was solely money. Working two low paying jobs shows me how my milieu that I am forced into at the moment by this system is not equal to my efforts. College seems to at least give me opportunities to change my milieu. I think the sociological imagination enables me to see the general in the particular because it allows me to think of myself when graduated and start moving towards a change in milieu. Almost as if I felt “trapped” and college is the way to get out. Society changed to enter a new, technological age that forces these requirements on the people within it in my opinion in order to keep the constant change rolling. Seeing the past and hoping for a better future is not going to change things, but understanding the reason for the cause by using the method greatly improves my chance of successful.
Knowing society has changed, observing the state, I find myself trapped into at this stage of life, it is due to the change in society, forcing the individual to learn more and harder, be more precise and better than others, have constant pressure and fear of competition for cheaper labor and maybe even to keep the changes that we have been transformed into, that I am attending college today.
My Status Set
Every individual has several statuses they hold. A status, or social position, changes often, throughout a person’s life; multiple ones can be, and most likely are occupied by an individual (Macionis, 2008). There are several different types of statuses, categorized into “achieved” and “ascribed” as well as a “master status”. These are the positions socially, that are either gained through personal achievement and with great influence of the individual, thus achieved status, or by being born into the status, called ascribed where the choice is very little one had, on holding a certain status (Macionis, 2008). Each individual again, can hold multiple ones, yet only one master status, therefore the most important position that reflects on all others is the master status. The different positions a person holds are referred to as a status set showing all statuses for one person (Macionis, 2008).
If achieved statuses are the positions that one has socially gained with his or her own influence, being a student at college illustrates this status very well. Having to work towards a goal, a newer, better social standpoint in life, or just to have more money, requires the individual to put forth their own effort to take on that status (Macionis, 2008). I had to work hard towards my goals in High School, so achieving the grades needed to get to become a college student and occupy this new status. Eventually, this occupation will change, and I will take up another status as most people do throughout their life (Macionis, 2008). Another good example of an achieved status that I currently hold in my life, are my multiple jobs. Just starting a new, third job, took me hard dedication and many hours of interviews and headaches that I still remain to have. At my other job, the status I hold is lower, but I had to also work hard to achieve the little status and recognition there. In my last job, I hold the highest status of all three. Not only did I work hard but still maintain the status in order not to loose it or move down to a different one. These are all social positions that greatly reflect my achieved statuses. My future, education, and experience I need are all part of my status set that deals with these jobs. Income is often a big factor, if not determined by it, when looking at the different statuses (Macionis, 2008).
The second type of status is known as ascribed status. Unlike having to achieve this position socially, it is given to the individual without personal choice or very little such as heritage and sex. No person has a choice of being a certain sex or sometimes even religion. Those things we are born with, cannot change, or very rarely do so all fall into this category (Macionis,2008). A very good illustration is my current status as a German citizen. I had no choice over the status, since I was born there, I automatically occupied it. Unlike being an US citizen as I am today as well, which I had one hundred percent of a personal choice, my German nationality is not an achieved status but ascribed. This is a perfect example since I am both German ascribed, and US citizen by choice, at the same time. All these statuses have great effects over me, and my personal choices. Because I was raised differently, the new achieved Us status, affects me in the way I pay taxes, educate myself and obligations such as voting or productivity are just a few more areas I have felt the impact of these status changes and positions.
A master status is the most important one in an individual’s life, therefore the one that makes up that persons life or influences it incredibly strong to overpower the importance of all other statuses (Macionis, 2008). Short, it shapes the entire surrounding of that person and its positions held within it. My best example of such a status is being a son. I had no choice over the fact that I was born, or could have affected it in any way. It is also a very strong status in my personal life, apart from work. Perhaps it is the most important, which makes it also my master status. Being a son shapes my life and determines everything else that I do. I am very family bound but the importance of this status is greater than all others. Not only does it affect my personal but also my social life. It is the status, or position that reveals the most background as well, which is an important characteristic of one’s master status (Macionis, 2008). Showing the lifelong information and background, it also reflects on my home life and education. Income is a factor of this status in my life too, and has greatly affected me my entire life and still does every day. All these effects on my life are stronger than any other statuses occupied by me, which tells me that it is my “master social position”. I believe that I could not have had achieved many of my current achieved statuses, without this important role I had to take on unwillingly.
Given all the different sets of social roles or statuses, it is hard not to have conflict between one status and another (Macionis, 2008). I myself have experienced many role conflicts that occur while trying to maintain the different positions with much care. The roles, or also called “behavioral expectations”, are bound to clash with one another frequently (Macionis, 2008). Time is the biggest factor in my personal life and the trouble almost always connects to the significance of how many roles and what kinds of them are held at one specific time. For example, being a German, college student, that works multiple jobs, having a family to be part of daily as a son, has many difficulties and is not always easy to manage. Time becomes very little quickly and hard to make up for when lost. The status set has proven to be stressful and affects my personal life the most.
Over a lifetime, people gain and lose many different statuses. Personally I have gone through the same cycle, progressively moving from one role to another, trying to make the best out of each. They all have affected me in good or bad ways, providing a good balance in my social life. The roles, constantly mixing, bring great responsibility with them, especially in my personal life as being a son. It is the most significant part of shaping who I am and who I will become.
References:
- Macionis, J. (2008). Sociology 12th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson Education Inc.
- Mills, C (2000). The Promise, Oxford University Press
comments: (0)