Sociological Imagination

Sociological ImaginationIntroductionAn American initially used the term Sociological Imagination by the name Mills Wright. Mills was a sociologist and he used the term in the year 1959 to describe the process through which an individual is linked to experiences with the cultural and social institutions as well as the individual's history (Houston 11). Mills defined Sociological Imagination as an individual's ability of being able to connect clearly his impersonal as well as his remote historical aspects that influence the life of that particular individual. The term also suggests that all people will look keenly at their individual problems to be a matter of social affairs or issues. In that case, the person will try to re-connect his own experiences to the happenings and workings of that particular society (Houston 15). One thing with sociological imagination is that it always enables a person to be in position of distinguishing between his own personal issues and public troubles. In that context, the people languishing in absolute poverty will always tend to link all their individual happenings and circumstances as if they were from the social forces that are, in one way or the other, relevant to the nature of the present conditions (Houston 19).Sociological Imagination & Globalization: Free Trade AgreementIn his book "The Promise of Sociology," Wright Mills has argued that the individuals and the society are inextricably intertwined. Mills emphasizes that all individuals are unaware of the forces that shape the history of the world, and that individuals eventually learn to adapt to world events and take an active part in changing the course of history. He also argues that individuals are often incapable of grasping their relationship with this rapidly changing world, and they feel powerless against the forces that bind them to the world's history (Houston 25). In that case, all individuals need to absorb all available information in order to adapt to social changes in their lives. Such information will help them understand their relationships with the world on how their roles shape the world.From his work, we can see that Mills argues that understanding social change is based on considering small facts and how they change history over a long time (Houston 45). Individuals need to understand how small changes would result in radical transformations of one's understanding of selfhood in relation to world history. According to his arguments, individuals will tend to perceive themselves as if detached from the forces of change, but it is through sociological imagination that they are able to learn more about themselves and their specific roles in society. He argues that the sociological imagination is based on distinguishing between one's personal troubles and public issues. The fundamental distinction is because "troubles" arise from the private sphere while "issues" arise from the social and historical context of world history (Houston 47). For instance, the institutional component of society is a public issue as it is concerned with the collective well-being of individuals. If social change affects a large number of people, then that is a public issue. When a large segment of society is affected by social change, then individuals need to consider the flaws in the structure of society. This structure is inseparable from every individual's opportunities and the benefits that allow them to be actively engaged in society over a long period. Mills argues that in war, individuals respond to their circumstances by considering the society's response to war. War enables individuals to become involved in defending society's values as well as their personal needs. Resolving public issues requires institutions to change the way they interact with individuals and society. Mills argues that divorce or unemployment constitute some of the issues that will only be resolved by institutions rather than individuals (Houston 56). He argues that individuals are more concerned with their troubles rather than resolving major public issues. Individuals perceive public issues as beneficial only when their status in society is secure, but when these issues threaten their status they experience a time of crisis. Mill's central argument is based on the notion that individuals are not always informed of the challenges they have to face and as a result, the entire society struggles to adapt to change (Houston 56). This problem affects the relationship between the individual and society throughout the course of history.Globalization is one of the key topics that have become a favorite topic of discussions for politicians as well as journalists today. It is a topic that cannot be discussed without talking about coming up with issues of business, academics and economic development. Because of that fact, many projects and goals by man have been aimed in attaining global development, what is referred as globalization (Giddens 37). Globalization is hence connected in the way the world will develop due to the issues of trade, communication, technology and engineering, among others (Giddens 39). Many thinkers and scholars have been trying to connect between socialization and globalization because the two have some sort of correlation. Gidden is known to have always believed that the effects of globalization will be seen around us such as the politicians have lost their respect and the concept of nation state has ended. On the other hand, he presents a skeptical approach when it comes to free market system, and here his advices are that such needs are aimed in ending all global welfare systems (Giddens 60). In today's world, goods and services have become more and more than ever before. At the same time the global information and electronic economies have been developing so tremendously. That being the case, Gidden believes that, the world has not even one perspective that has been understood when it comes to globalization. Gidden, therefore, defined globalization as that aspect or idea behind the intensification of all social affairs around the world. The global economic systems have been regulating all the economies programmed by the government, technology and even human culture. It will therefore be agreed that Gidden's perspective of globalization was not limited to the development of the economy, but to the integration of politics, free trade, economic linearization, expansion, free markets, technology, culture, among other many issues. It has hence been argued that it is through globalization that the world has been able to develop in terms of communication and trade (Giddens 69). The Free Trade Agreement It will be agreed that, as the world continues to globalize, we are seeing very large number of companies continuing to intensify day by day. Many industries and companies have been springing here and there around the world. This is because such companies and industries have been keen in increasing their customer outlets and hence the easiest way to attain this is through expansion of outlets, and by so doing, reaching may people around the world (Houston 78). Such companies have hence been forced to go beyond borders in search for markets, and this has been made possible by globalization. In that case, for any company to succeed, it would be necessary for such a company to spread its operations to different parts of the globe. This image depicts current nature of globalization. It is showing North American Free Trade Agreement. It is showing corporate America and the way its trade has been dominating the entire world. This hence is an indication that the American companies have been giving much competition all over the entire world, hence having much impact on the world's current economy. The Free Trade accounts for about 33 percent of the world business outputs. Approximately, the entire world has been accounting for about a quarter of the entire output of the globe. In that case, such companies have been giving a huge impact to all other nations as well as labour and economies. It would be argued that the issue of free trade systems around different economies of the world must have been brought about by globalization. This must be the case because it is through globalization that the globe becomes a small population barred by geographical distance while at the same time they can easily communicate within a very short time (Giddens 87). The main reason for success of free trade in the world has been attributed to the mechanisms of trade that have originated from the withdrawal of all existing trade barriers to and also in the entire management practices. This has been because of globalization, which is taking the world in a storm.In that case, it would be necessary that we understand our social values as well as our societal status in terms of economy so that we may embrace globalization whose benefits are irrefutable. One way to attain this is through educating as well as informing all workers in different areas about the existing cultural differences, how the differences can be solved, and also the major business operations and procedures in different cultures and nations so that they can all be merged into one harmonious business operation (Giddens 86). In addition, managers of companies and businesses should ensure that all local employees in the businesses possess much knowledge concerning the market, its nature and operations.Globalization has hence seen a deeper integration in terms of economic practices, and this has been motivated by free trade operations, which have helped different social groups, interact with each other in a very big way. Therefore, all business operation zones should come up with ways and plans of eliminating major tariffs, which hinder business operations as the world, continue to attain globalization (Houston 71). All the member countries in any given free trade organization or agreement should come up with harmonized business operations and regulations that would help the world realise its dream of economic development. With such free trade agreements and liberalization, there will be the promotion of non-tariff that would be a great barrier to trade operations. Such taxes and tariffs should also be done away with for maximum economic development. Studies have also shown that majority of the industries and companies believe that the existence of tariffs and taxes of trade is what kills the morale of business operations hence making it hard to achieve economic development (Giddens 89). This should be encouraged in the entire globe so that we can benefit with the current globalization. There should also be the development of corporations that have similar economic goals, hence work together in the realization of such dreams. How can we use the sociological imagination to understand globalization better?It is very automatic that the understanding of our sociological imagination will be very useful in helping us understand globalization better. Because of sociological imagination, all people will be in a position to understand where they have come from, where they are, and where they are headed. This is not the only thing that we can learn from sociological imaginations, and in that case, people will be in a position to understand some of the problems that face all of them and the reason they may be required to come together and fight such problems. It is after realization that they have a common problem when they come together in an effort to better their lives. Then, how will such sociological imagination help people understand globalization? It is after realizing that somebody has a solution to your problem when you realize that you need that person than ever before, and more often than not, the person would realize that he or she has a solution to that other person also. In that case, it is because it is very easy for globalization to take place and such people with different backgrounds come together, share their problems and become a team. It is therefore true that sociological imagination will help people understand what exactly globalization is (Houston 76). In that case, people will be eager to come together, trade, exchange ideas, technology and so on, hence making the globe virtually a very small village, yet very large geographically.Ethnicity as part of Sociological Imagination Ethnicity is strong topic of discussion when it comes to sociological imagination. This is because we cannot talk of one without the other. Ethnicity gives the backbone through which different social aspects and practices are held in a given society, hence defining that particular culture. Racism is a word that has been used over the years to mean a group or groups of individuals having differences as well as similarities in their biological traits. Such races have different social as well cultural practices (Marger 66). Today, there a multitude of exceptions that has been occurring to such sort of grouping races. In that case, a number of sociologists indicate no clear-cut races that have ever existed in the world. These sociologists believe that such people have just been assorted into different physical as well as genetic variations that must exist across all human groups of people in the world (Houston 87). In that case, there will the occurrence of some physical differences that are obvious. Some of these variations are inherited and the reason such differences will exist in all human races (Houston 88).  Until the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species, in the year 1859, a concept was initially used that the natural universe consisted of abundant evidences of different evolution systems. What we are seeing today is that there have been controversies in an attempt to determine if or not the laws of evolution lie in the natural selection, or is it in the law of creation, thus the existence of races under the sun. Other concepts used in ethnicity include Racism and Culture. Racism as a concept was initially used to refer to the traits that governed people with different backgrounds in terms of color, culture and blood. Later versions of the concept were redefined to mean people possessing different taxonomical features (Marger 67). Culture was another concept that would be used to define a tribe or a race and the reason it would be used hand in hand with ethnicity/racism. Such a concept was initially used Biblically to mean the nature and social practices of people, including their food, clothing and housing. Such factors are hence important in analyzing the sociological imagination of that given society.  Conclusion It would be agreed that the world has been seeing a lot of Globalization and this has directly affected personal lives. This therefore means that globalization will have effect on someone's sociological imagination, which may be positive or negative. For instance, the free trade in North America brought injustice and inequality in the region. However, it will be agreed that proper management of a free trade will result in better development of a given economy.