Jump to content

User:Anthonyjlopez/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sociology of Imagination

Real life application (SUBHEADING)

Sociological imagination can be applied in everyday life. Simply looking at any event, issue, or activity using a different perspective from that which one would usually use is attributing to the use of sociological imagination. One prime example would be drinking coffee. Drinking coffee can be seen as a form of self care, as it does speed up ones metabolism. The consumption of coffee could also be considered as a custom or ritual as some people consume coffee everyday at the same time. Scientifically however, coffee contains a significant amount of caffeine which may cause addiction to the consumer and therefore is another way to perceive the consumption as it is now an addiction rather than the simple act of self care. People also "meet for coffee" which in turn makes it a social ambiance where the idea is to focus on a meeting with another individual that focuses more on the intersection between a group or one or two people itself rather than the actual action of drinking the cup of coffee.

Without the Use of social imagination

The use of sociological imagination is to putting unsells outside of their everyday routines to be able to view their actions or lives as a third party individual. In doing so they allow themselves to make more self aware decisions rather than be swayed by social norms or factors that may otherwise dictate their actions. When one doesn't use sociological imagination, they render themselves to be very apathetic. Apathy in people is a "spiritual condition" which may be the base of most of their problems. These problems being, lack of indignation in scenarios dealing with moral horror, accepting atrocities performed by their leaders (political or familiar), and lacking the ability to react morally to the actions and decisions of their leaders. When sociological imagination is not used, loss of character is a possibility. [1] A classical example of what happens when a society renders itself to the power of a leader and doesn't use sociological imagination is the example of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was based on the principal of absolute power in a dictatorship where the society fell victim to apathy and willingly looked away from the horrors they committed. They willfully accepted the decisions taken by Adolf Hitler and carried out the orders because they had lost self awareness and moral code now adopting the new social moral code. In doing this they lost the ability to morally react to Hitlers command and in turn slaughtered more than 6,000,000 jews and other minorities and disabled persons. [2]

  1. ^  Mills, C. W. (1959/1976). The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Laqueur, Walter (2001). The Holocaust Encyclopedia. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.