Sociological Imagination (not Reliable, Posting This for Free Account)

Lisen, Clarisse Theresa D.                                                        MWF 3:30PM – 4:30PM

BFA – AA II

The Sociological Imagination :

Personal Problems into Public Issues

1. As Mills sees it, how are personal troubles different from public issues? Explain this difference in terms of what happened to Mike in the story [provided].

Personal troubles are what we experience in our lives in which we are at fault, experiences that brings us trouble due to our lack of competence, luck or any factor that led to a bad situation a.k.a problems or personal troubles; public issues, however, are what victimizes us in making us think that it was our fault having a particular problem only to soon realize that it is simply the result of a social trend where employers and other influential body plays a big role.

In the case of Mike, he mistook the public issue as his own personal trouble as a result of his sociological imagination. Since, at first, he thought he had a unique problem where he was the only one experiencing it due to his lack of hard work but realized soon enough that, no, it was not just something personal, it was not his fault at all but the fault of his company trying to globalize the economy by outsourcing jobs trying to globalize the economy.

2. Living in the [Philippines], why do we often blame ourselves for the personal problems we face?

        As Filipinos, we were raised humble and would often see ourselves as the root of all our problems since we think that it is our own actions that led us to certain situations, refraining us to think that there is no one else to blame but man in the mirror.  

3. How can using the sociological imagination give us the power to change the world?

        Sociological imagination plays a big role in society and most importantly, in our lives. It is a key factor to determine whether or not a certain problem should be faced personally or by group since this imagination forms “awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society” in other words, it makes us understand that what happens in society may lead to a certain outcome and what we do to that understanding will shape our mind to figure out what we should do about it thus gives us the power to change the world. But we also have to understand that given this power, we also need to exercise it and not just think about doing it for it defeats the purpose of being given that power in the first place.