The Sociological Imagination
I do not wish to be overwhelmed with societal views on what my surroundings are to be. I possess the sociological imagination. According to Mills, the application of the sociological imagination results in your becoming aware of personal troubles
and public issues; it results in your becoming aware of your surroundings, of
the powers that be, of the forces that affect you, of the false idols that you
realize you should not adopt. Without this sociological imagination, you adopt
idols: making cravings into necessities. I will give you an example: yesterday
started off fairly decent; I had my water. I did not have breakfast but I had
lunch and later on I had a snack. Then dinner time came and went. I was not
hungry but I went and had a bowl of ice cream. I did not need the ice cream; I did not needdessert! I could have waited two hours and have perhaps a snack like maybe an orange but I did not; I made a craving into a necessity. I am a dietary diabetic hooked on sugar. A little bit of sugar is okay but not as much as two to three scoops of ice cream. I ate it like I had to have it. The dinner was a necessity but not the dessert. The dessert was an option: I did not have to have it.
First you may be wondering what I am talking about when I say sociological imagination, personal trouble and public issue. Let me define those for you and then I will get into defining the word idol. The sociological imagination is, according to Mills,“to be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieu”(surroundings) (Mills). Mills defined a personal trouble by example: “when, in a city of 100,000, only
one man is unemployed…we properly look to the character of the man, his skills
and his immediate opportunities. Mills defined a public issue by example: “but
when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is
an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of
opportunities open to any one individual.” An idol is a god of some sort. What
is a god? Ah! The important question! A god is a power, a force with which to be
reckoned, someone or something you admire very much, someone or something upon which you heavily rely, and in the society and sub-societies of the United
States and perhaps other places in the world, something or someone that makes
you feel good which can become an addiction like eating sugar a lot, for
example.
The aforementioned was a personal trouble. Mills speaks of personal troubles and public issues in his paper called, “The Promise of Sociology”. He applied them to marriage, which is an institution, when it comes to divorce and to the economy when it comes to unemployment. My personal trouble was an addiction to sugar. My mother introduced me to sugar when I was young, about elementary school age, because I did not want to drink water the way it was. However, I am culpable because I am a grown adult and can make my own choices and I possess the sociological imagination which when implemented helps for me to recognize my own addiction, as well as society’s, and that I made a craving into a necessity. Sugar is also a public issue. Society at large uses sugar as if there is no tomorrow. Sugar is in some canned vegetable goods and in meats such as bar-be-que spare ribs. When I ate the ice cream, I was temporarily insane. Also, I was falsely high,
temporarily. My sociological imagination was not at its best.
With a developed sociological imagination, you are on the road to either avoiding or properly handling your personal troubles and public issues in society.
I do not wish to be overwhelmed with societal views on what my surroundings are to be. I possess the sociological imagination. According to Mills, the application of the sociological imagination results in your becoming aware of personal troubles
and public issues; it results in your becoming aware of your surroundings, of
the powers that be, of the forces that affect you, of the false idols that you
realize you should not adopt. Without this sociological imagination, you adopt
idols: making cravings into necessities. I will give you an example: yesterday
started off fairly decent; I had my water. I did not have breakfast but I had
lunch and later on I had a snack. Then dinner time came and went. I was not
hungry but I went and had a bowl of ice cream. I did not need the ice cream; I did not needdessert! I could have waited two hours and have perhaps a snack like maybe an orange but I did not; I made a craving into a necessity. I am a dietary diabetic hooked on sugar. A little bit of sugar is okay but not as much as two to three scoops of ice cream. I ate it like I had to have it. The dinner was a necessity but not the dessert. The dessert was an option: I did not have to have it.
First you may be wondering what I am talking about when I say sociological imagination, personal trouble and public issue. Let me define those for you and then I will get into defining the word idol. The sociological imagination is, according to Mills,“to be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieu”(surroundings) (Mills). Mills defined a personal trouble by example: “when, in a city of 100,000, only
one man is unemployed…we properly look to the character of the man, his skills
and his immediate opportunities. Mills defined a public issue by example: “but
when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is
an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of
opportunities open to any one individual.” An idol is a god of some sort. What
is a god? Ah! The important question! A god is a power, a force with which to be
reckoned, someone or something you admire very much, someone or something upon which you heavily rely, and in the society and sub-societies of the United
States and perhaps other places in the world, something or someone that makes
you feel good which can become an addiction like eating sugar a lot, for
example.
The aforementioned was a personal trouble. Mills speaks of personal troubles and public issues in his paper called, “The Promise of Sociology”. He applied them to marriage, which is an institution, when it comes to divorce and to the economy when it comes to unemployment. My personal trouble was an addiction to sugar. My mother introduced me to sugar when I was young, about elementary school age, because I did not want to drink water the way it was. However, I am culpable because I am a grown adult and can make my own choices and I possess the sociological imagination which when implemented helps for me to recognize my own addiction, as well as society’s, and that I made a craving into a necessity. Sugar is also a public issue. Society at large uses sugar as if there is no tomorrow. Sugar is in some canned vegetable goods and in meats such as bar-be-que spare ribs. When I ate the ice cream, I was temporarily insane. Also, I was falsely high,
temporarily. My sociological imagination was not at its best.
With a developed sociological imagination, you are on the road to either avoiding or properly handling your personal troubles and public issues in society.