Lesson 2 - sociological imagination

Dr. Sandra M. Rios Oyola Introduction to Sociology - UCR Lecture 2

What is Sociology?Sociological Thinking and the Sociological Imagination

• What is Sociology? (Giddens)
• Thinking Sociologically (Bauman)
• Exercise 1: Florida
• The Sociological Imagination (Wright Mills)
• Personal Troubles / Social Issues
• Individual Perspective / Social Perspective
• Exercise 2: Unemployment
• Exercise 3: Refugees
• Exercise 4: Other

Index

What is sociology?

Anthony Giddens 1938-

"Sociologists focus attention upon unintended and unanticipated consequences of human activity, whereas in ordinary activities we concern ourselves mainly with the intentions and emotions of other people" (Giddens, 1)

What is sociology?

"Sociological knowledge builds upon the practical forms of knowing by means of which we organize our everyday lives." (Giddens, 1)

2. Can sociology be similar to the natural sciences? generating universal laws? 3. What were the climate of ideas involved in the formation of sociology?

What is sociology?

1. Does sociology have a subversive or critical character?

'A society is a cluster, or system, of institutionalized modes of conduct. To speak of ‘institutionalized’ forms of social conduct is to refer to modes of belief and behaviour that occur and recur – or, as the terminology of modern social theory would have it, are socially reproduced – across long spans of time and space.'( Giddens, 5)

What is sociology?

Sociology is the study of society.

"Sociology is a social science, having as its main focus the studyof the social institutions brought into being by the industrial transformations of the past two or three centuries." (Giddens, 5)

What is sociology?

Zygmunt Bauman 1925-2017

"How do our individual biographies intertwine with the history we share with other human beings?"

According to Bauman, sociologically thinking allows us to ask ourselves

- Responsible Speech: Evidence, Methods- A wider Perspective "To think sociologically is to make sense of the human condition via an analysis of the manifold webs of human interdependency - that toughest of realities to which we refer in order to explain our motives and the effects of their activation"

Common sense / Sociology

Defamiliarize ourselves Open to diversity Freedom Defending dignity Promoting solidarity

Sociology

What is the main problem presented in the article? Write your own definition of sociology.

Read Joya Misra's article in The Conversation

Exercise

C. Wright Mills 1916-1962

"to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. That is its task and its promise. To recognize this task and this promise is the mark of the classic social analyst".

According to Mills (1959:6), Sociological Imagination enables us

What is a social problem?

What is a social problem?

A trouble is a private matter: values shared by an individual are felt by him to be threatened Issues have to do with matters that trascend the individual and the range of his inner life.

PERSONAL TROUBLES / SOCIAL ISSUES

Exercise 2 goal: Students apply sociological imagination – understanding how specific social forces (public issues) affect individual lives and experiences (personal troubles) to the examples used in the activity.

How does a person experience unemployment? What can they do to solve their situation?

Unemployment

Read the website and discuss in couples (10 mins)

https://youthfightforjobs.com/about-youth-fight-for-jobs/

How can we understand unemployment not only as a personal trouble but as a social/public issue? What are some of the problem s raised by YouthFightforJobs? What is the benefit of understanding unemployment as a social issue?

Excercise 3:

1. Break in Groups (3-4 students) Read about the refugee crisis (until the statements) https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15713.doc.htm 2. Each student chooses a different story: - https://refugeelives.eu/ - https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/stories/ (Australia) 3. Each student explains the story to the rest of the group and identify the main personal trouble that the person in the story faces. 4. Discuss how you can understand the personal problems (personal trouble) as a social problem (public issue). What difference does it make to read about the "numbers" and about the "stories"?

Excercise 4: Choose a different problem that can be explained using sociological imagination

"Sociology is full of people who have passion, who care deeply about their subject because so many of us came in through the activist side."

Seeing something that the ordinary eye doesn't see

Why does Bauman find it necessary to compare sociology to common sense?

"For the lawyer, the essential thing to understand is how the law looks upon a certain type of criminal. For the sociologist is equally important to see how the criminal looks at the law".