Sociological Imagination In Canada

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Sociological Imagination consists of viewing the world from different perspectives and viewpoints within a society. This helps individuals better understand the society and the functions from these different viewpoints. Individuals tend to be very biased when observing situations from a personal viewpoint. More accurately, sociological imagination cane be defined as “...the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society” (Mills, 1959). This definition expresses the importance of sociological imagination. I personally believe that it is beneficial to individuals in a society to be able to understand different viewpoints of a situation. An example Naiman gives is “ In Canada, millions are living in poverty, that’s…show more content…
This theory can be affected by the linking of personal and social issues that can create a bias. Individuals have personal issues can have a tremendous affect their day-to-day lives in the social world. Naiman believes that going “beyond the personal issues we all experience and connect them to broader social structures” (Naiman 2012, 8) will help better understand the society as a whole. For example, an individual with many personal problems such as financial or health issues may come off as an introvert and not be quite bothered by their social surroundings. Other individuals in the society may see this person as shy or even stuck-up depending on their personal viewpoint. The society may not be able to understand this individual’s behavior or presence due to their lack of knowledge. This is due to the linking of personal issues with the social environment. In order to understand this using sociological imagination, the members of society are left to wonder what could have possibly affected the individual or if they have just always been this way. The value that is in sociological imagination is what allows individuals to better understand each other and link different aspects of society to it. Personal experiences are what create bias in a scenario such as this one, the individual is linking their judgments based on their personal experiences within that

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