Sociological Imagination Essay

Applying the Sociological Imagination Essay Guidelines

In this paper, you are to use your sociological imagination to analyze a personal problem, past or present, by connecting it to broader social issues.  

 

You have 5 content areas to take care of in this area. They are numbered below. No need for an abstract…

Note: If you just mention a theory without properly explaining what it is and how it fits your analysis, you will not receive full points. Same with the stats category - just mentioning a couple of data will not be awarded full points.

Here is the assignment

Topic: It can be a life altering event from your life; can be a part of your life that stands out; or, can be a situation - past or in the present.  You may think of something that is worrying you now.  You can also analyze the situation of a person close to you if their experience affected you and you know it well enough personally to write about it.  For example, you may consider the dynamics of a personal relationship/hardship, your job or lack of a job, family dynamics, juggling work and school, your body image, addiction, winning an award, and such.

Choose a situation that is easily explained through a variety of sociological concepts!  

#1.       

· Write an Introduction with the definition of C. W. Mill’s concept of sociological imagination (SI),

· Give a brief overview of how you’ll be applying SI in your paper using a personal topic/issue of yours.

Should not be more than a paragraph long.

 

#2.       

· Explain how you are dealing/dealt with the personal issue and label this section “Personal Explanation.”

· In this section you can explain who all were involved, what were others’ and your role in the situation, and if a resolution was achieved, etc.

· How do/did you feel and why?  

· Describe anything else about this situation, the choices you did and didn’t make, etc.

· You can use ‘I’ (first person narrative) here because this section is all about your psychological state; it is personal account of your emotions and thoughts.

This section should be  no  longer than four paragraphs (1/2 – 1 page).

 

#3.      

Next, applying your sociological imagination, explain the situation sociologically; that is… you need to analyze your personal issue/topic in sociological terms - the whys , and how society at large has affected the situation.  

 

Label this section “Sociological Imagination”; this section will be major portion of your paper .  Discuss the social forces which connect(ed) your personal situation to larger, related social issues.  

A student who wants to talk about a problem that she/he might think arose due to gender issues will definitely use concepts from gender chapter. If it is a racial issue, the student can make use of the concepts from the race chapter… and so on. That is, each student will use concepts that are issue-specific.

Include – Concepts from at least 3 different Conley chapters.

· One sociological theory in your analysis.

Italicize the concepts and theory for easy recognition.

Examples of Concepts: Role Conflict, Role Strain, Socialization, Bourgeoisie, Capitalism, Nuclear Family, Gender-role, Anomie, Social Class, Race, Correlation, Causation, Social Movements, Hegemonic Masculinity, Ethnocentrism, Glass-ceiling, Culture, Double consciousness, etc.

Examples of Theory: Conflict, Structural Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, Dramaturgy, Looking-Glass Self, Sick-Role theory, Feminism, Ethnomethodology, etc.

Please integrate the concepts, theory, and stats (from next content area) well into your essay. Have a good flow rather than mentioning the concepts and theory disjointedly (or as separate sections).

Theory is worth 20% of your paper and concepts 30%.

Therefore, please remember that just mentioning the theory or the concepts without explaining them well to fit your analyses will NOT fetch you full points.

 

#4.      Name this section Data/Stats. Cite at least two social trends and statistics (from the Conley text and/or outside scholarly resources) relevant to your situation.

Depending on your topic, examples can include - divorce rates for various social categories of people, poverty rates, crime and victimization rates, suicide rates, unemployment rates, etc.  

You may need to do some outside research to find relevant statistics. At least one data/research material should be from outside scholarly source.

 

  #5.       Label and write a wrap-up Conclusion paragraph summarizing the major finding/themes in your paper.

Format -

· Title page

· Main Body (don’t have to have this title) with 5 content areas

Introduction: ……

Personal situation: ………

Sociological Imagination: …. Concepts & theory integrated into analysis

Social Trends/Stats: ….

Conclusion: ….

· References page

Things to remember: 

· Avoid a focus on individualistic & psychological explanations about stress, personal emotions, feelings, personal achievements, and characteristics, etc., except in the SI content area.

· Your grade is determined by

· If you included all the 5 content areas.

· How well you used sociological imagination perspective in analyzing your personal topic. you are learning in this course.

· Is at least 4 full pages length (excluding Title and References pages). You will NOT lose points if you go over 6 pages. If you plan to write more than 4-6 pages, size content areas accordingly, with SI section to be the biggest section.

· APA format, as required for an academic paper, from Title page to References page.

· https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/18/ for APA Sample Paper.

· Without plagiarism.