SOSC2 (9:00 10:30 AM TTh)

2/16/2017
Denaga | Desabile | Jurado | Mabaylan | Verano
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Analysis on the Sociological Imagination and Perspective
(Based on the works of C.W. Mills and P. Berger)

Mills started his discussion by saying that people feel that their being trapped by the society they
live in. That they feel that they live in troubles and can't overcome them. People were blinded by
that trouble and they tend to not see that history is affecting them. Because of such great
experiences, they do not usually ascribe to the big ups and downs of the societies in which they
live. Mills then stated that sociological imagination enables us to see and understand things in a
social manner.

The first lesson of this so- called sociological imagination and the social science that embodies it
is that the individuals understand themselves as an individual, and as a contribution to the
society. The sociological imagination allows us to hold into history and biography and its
connections and relation between the two within the society. This is the task and the promise by
which was recognized and marked by the social analyst. Social analysts tend to ask questions to
those who have been aware to the promise of their work. These questions are the questions that
were instilled in the mind of the one who possesses sociological imagination.

The most fruitful distinction with which the sociological imagination works is between the
troubles and issues which is also the essential tool of the sociological imagination. The
distinction between the troubles and issues is how they connect to the society. Troubles occur
within an individual and within his immediate relation to others while issues have to do with the
matters that transcend with the local surroundings of the individual and see the range of its
individual life. In other words, an individual can affect the society. Mills demonstrated this by
giving example events such as unemployment, war, marriage and metropolis.

The bottomline is that understanding sociological imagination helps us to cope up with our lives
by understanding the interaction between the individual and the society for better control. This
helps us to understand what is happening with our lives by the result of intersection between
history and biography in the social structure.

The sociological perspective presented in the arguments of C. Wright Mills and Peter Berger is
generally the starting point to ask questions about the issues and troubles in the society one is
living in. This perspective seeks to understand more of the cause to why certain events and
occurrences happen in society. The sociological perspective is then used in the study and
research of societal groups overall most especially in sociology.

However, the sociological perspective is not limited to sociology alone. In the case of Peter
Bergers claim in his Invitation to Sociology, many other different disciplines use the
sociological perspective to answer certain flaws in their specified field. Take for instance
criminology. As sociological perspective is the point of view of someone towards society,
criminology can use the sociological perspective to solve murder cases for example. An
investigator can take himself to the shoes of the criminal and see how the criminal triggers
himself to perform homicide on his victim based on information that he has gathered. The
sociological perspective can also be used by politicians to meet the needs of the people in the
state. Take the president as an example. The president was once a citizen of the country, and
basically he knows the particular needs of the subordinates (unless he is unvigilant towards the
cries of the people). He could use this to be able to determine their needs and propose platforms
for their benefit.