Summary Of The Sociological Imagination

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In society today, we often regard intelligence as a numerical value that measures the intellect of an individual. However, it is believed that intelligence is more than just a number and that it is more than just a representation of the human brain. In the article The Sociological Imagination by James R. Flynn, Flynn focuses on the failure of sociological imagination due to the fact that psychologists often fail to consider the social context within human intelligence. In another article Into the Unknown by Kevin Warwick, Warwick further extends Flynn’s ideas through his claim that intelligence is very subjective, for the society tends to measure intelligence based on their own conventional values and beliefs. The two articles showcase that…show more content…
In The Sociological Imagination, Flynn makes a reference to Gardener’s idea that intelligence is classified into seven different categories. Flynn reasons that these seven skills should be labeled under a more general term and that everyone should be valued for their own abilities, but he acknowledges that we cannot change the society’s views and judgement through words (176). Flynn provides an example showing how different intelligences act differently in the society today. “Being at the 90th percentile for the kind of ‘intelligences’ that get professional credentials opens up a thousand doors; being at the 90th percentile for softball does not” (176). This example portrays the reality that sociological imagination is a failure because society weighs each intelligence differently; the society believes that being good in sports is different from being good in academics. In Into the Unknown, Warwick mentions about the insignificance of comparing intelligence between different species as well as within the same species. Warwick’s notion on the comparison of intelligence further supports Flynn’s reason, while challenging the society’s subjective perspective that is portrayed in Flynn’s article. Warwick asserts that “one species does not have to be better than another species…for it to be more successful and possibly more powerful” (201). He is implying that having a certain ability does not define our intelligence; we are all intelligent in our own way, so it is unreasonable to compare the abilities of one individual to another. As humans adapt to a certain environment, different environmental factors can result in the development of different

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