Sociological Imagination

The sociological imagination emphasizes the connection between personal troubles (biography) and structural (public and historical) issues. An example of sociological imagination would be, there is a girl who wants to look thin, but cannot achieve this look. The girl goes into a chronic depression and suffers from an inferiority complex. In order to be thin, she becomes anorexic and experiences severe health problems. Most people would say that it's her own personal problem. If we apply sociological imagination, we realize that society’s’ image for the perfect woman is to have fair skin and a small waist line and it is that obsession that has indirectly affected the girl. The media portrays beautiful girls as thin. This portrayal of …show more content…
Family is the first agent of socialization. Mothers and fathers along with other members of the family help teach a child what they need to know in order to survive, such as relating with other people and how the world works. Many social factors affect how a family raises their children. If we apply sociological imagination we can see that individual behaviors will be affected by the time period that they live in. An example of this would be a few decades ago it would not have been considered strict for a father to strike his son with a belt if he misbehaved, but in todays’ world it is looked at as child abuse. A peer group is a second agent of socialization and is made up of people who share the same interests. Peer group socialization begins when the older kids on a playground teach the younger ones about taking turns or the rules of a game. As teenagers this process continues and they begin to develop an identity separate from their …show more content…
Your task is to apply principles of deviance to a social issue. 1) In one sentence define social deviance. 2) Next, explain the three sociological perspectives of deviance (i.e. functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionist). 3) Briefly describe an issue that is considered deviant behavior in U.S. society. 4) Using one of the three perspectives, explain why this behavior is deviant, why it’s caused from your perspective, and how this issue could be “solved” from your chosen perspective.
1. Deviance is any behavior that violates a social norm and is usually severe enough to cause disapproval from the majority of society.
2. A type of symbolic interaction is labeling. This theory says that behaviors are deviant only when society labels them as deviant. Society interprets certain behaviors as deviant and then labels certain individuals. Labeling theory leaves some unanswered questions, such as who applies what label to whom and why they do

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The Sociological Imagination

The Sociological Imagination