Importance of Social Imagination for Person's Life: Opinion Essay

In our daily lives, many people feel they cannot overcome their problems out of their control, and they feel stuck. Sociological imagination is the way the people perceive an individual’s social problems in their relationship with society. Once we do something, we can make personal choices that serve the person be best. One example about sociological imagination is seeing a homeless person on the street. People can use the sociological imagination to tell a story that led that person to that situation. The person may have graduated from high school, was about to apply for college, and had an accident that cost him his ability to work. Later, both his parents were fired as a result of the recession, causing him to lose funding to go to school. And yet, because he lost his labor force, he could not get a job anywhere, his parents still struggled to find a job. We live in a vast society, that’s why decisions like increasing the price of gasoline, college tuition,…have an impact on our lives. Sociological imagination is the tool for us to see their relationships. So, to apply the sociological imagination to life, let’s talk to someone (like the homeless) to understand why they are like that. At the same time before judgment on someone, take a few minutes, try using sociological imagination to ask the question ‘why are they like that’. There is nothing natural like that, and at the same time nothing in life exists alone. Everything is related to each other. If the person is preparing to judge someone, use sociological imagination to think, if they have time, talk to that person. Lastly, sociological imagination is to look at things more broadly, higher, here means to look at the relationships instead of just focusing on the situation. In addition, people can use the sociological imagination to spread good things, because the sociological imagination brings us all together. Also Mills makes a distinction between personal “troubles” and public “issues.” Troubles are the problems that are concerned with personal experience, and issues are happening in a person’s inner life or personal context. Mills gives us many common examples showing the difference between troubles and issues such as unemployment, war, marriage…So, sociological imagination brings development in personal thinking and this development is the first step to changing the world for the better.

I think sociological imagination is important to sociologists because a sociologist studies people and society, and to understand those things, they have to use sociological imagination.

A radical experiment in empathy: Sam Richards helped me understand this week’s topic. This was an amazing video because it helped me with empathy. Empathy is being thrilled with the joys and sorrows of others, putting yourself in other people’s circumstances to understand and sympathize with them. I have an Aha moment when he said: “step outside of your tiny, little world…step inside of the tiny, little world of somebody else…”. Because in our lives, empathy will help bring people together. When we learn to empathize and share and know how to live for others, we are also happy, and people will feel this life is wonderful. Empathy is something every human needs to learn.