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What about giving examples of broad social imagination as original solutions to different problems! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.228.144.53 ( talk • contribs) 16:33, 23 July 2005
It seems like the last paragraph in this article is very opinionated and doesn't present C. Wright Mills' concept objectively. I see it a couple times throughout as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.210.226.2 ( talk • contribs) 17:14, 23 February 2006
This article is currently being redirected from the search term "social imagination" and there is a big difference between Mills' definition of the "sociological imagination" as defined in his text and the "social imagination" as defined by Cornelius Castoriadis, Jacques Lacan, Charles Taylor, Paul Riceour and others. See entry at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_imaginary
What gives? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.247.40.55 ( talk • contribs) 17:25, 30 July 2009
In November 2009, the article Sociological perspective was merged into Sociological imagination with these two edits:
The contents of Talk:Sociological perspective are preserved below. Melchoir ( talk) 07:39, 14 July 2010 (UTC)
I don't think this is a very good definition of a sociological perspective. Generally the term is used to describe that fact that sociology contains a huge number of different prespectives or theoretical frameworks such as marxism, functionalism, postmodernism etc. It is a bit rough to say that a sociological perspective is one unified perspective that looks at anything in one particular way.
I agree. There isn't even one dominant sociological perspective (some sociologists claims to the contrary) I'm noting problem. That Rubington quote is awful. - RedHouse18
I'm pasting the old content below: User:RedHouse18
Sociological perspective is the most general paradigm (a point of view, a distinct way of thinking) specific to the field of sociology. Sociological perspective focuses not on individuals but their group, or society, and attempts to explain human social structures, including cultural and governmental institutions and forms of activity and interpersonal relations using social facts or social forces.
Rubington (2002) defines sociological perspective as "a [sociological] way of looking at things. [...] It includes a basic orienting idea from which one's conceptualization and analysis follow, and it reflects a particular set of ideas and assumptions regarding the nature of people and society". It means that the sociologists are not limited to common sense knowledge, they try to investigate what lies beyond the commonly accepted reality and understand some of the rules that govern human behaviour in the society.
Social scientists usually follow one or more of the several specific sociological paradigms.
Making a bit of a change here. While Marx definately brought conflict theory to the forefront and is the father of the school of thought, I don't think the majority of sociologists think of it soley being his perspective. Kackisback 02:05, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
I don't agree, i think that although the terms 'sociological perspective' and 'sociolgoical paradigm' are sometimes used interchangeably, that doens't mean that the other use of 'sociological perspective' in void. Perhaps the quote by Rubington is not a great quote, but the second part of the paragraph certainly sums up what is meant by a 'sociological perspective': It means that the sociologists are not limited to common sense knowledge, they try to investigate what lies beyond the commonly accepted reality and understand some of the rules that govern human behaviour in the society.
It is possible to have a single sociological perspective, when you compare it to another type of perspective, ie. a common sense perspective. Certainly, all general text books on sociology, and introduction to sociology courses that i have come across talk about a sociological perspective, a common way that sociology has of approahcing any phenomena that involves seeks real explanations and not just relying on common sense views of things. I think it is important to have that somewhere in this article. JenLouise 04:32, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
The stuff on this page is simply repeated from the sociological paradigm page, so it is useless. I am going to try and rewrite this page, so bear with me over the next few days. JenLouise 05:12, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I just read the article and still don't know what "sociological imagination" is. I never really see a definition, the article begins by stating important questions related to sociological imagination, without even saying what it is first. I found a definition here: http://roanoke.edu/Documents/Glossary%20%20%2007.doc. Does anyone know if this is a correct definition? If it isn't, could someone please define it themselves? Thank you 128.61.122.97 ( talk) 13:32, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
The sociological imagination can be defined in many ways. You can have the text book definition, but that would not be so helpful in understanding the concept. The sociological imagination has to do with relating. Being aware of what people do, and WHY they do it. Basically, the interconnections between people (who are often not aware of it) on a daily basis. —Preceding unsigned comment added by As146509 ( talk • contribs) 16:12, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
The sociological imagination is the ability to see things socially and how they interact and influence each other. It is the process that explains social outcomes. In order for this to work, you must be able to pull yourself away from the situation and look at it from the outside perspective. Some main things to think about are things that lead to an outcome, thinking from an alternative point of view, and being able to see the causes of social outcomes that come from social context (norms, motives) social actors (country, time period, people you are with) social action (things that affect others) leads to social outcome. The main focus is to understand that social outcomes are shaped by social context, actors, and social actions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dm400609 ( talk • contribs) 17:14, 3 March 2010
The current draft of this article refers primarily to Mills' book and the concept in light of that book. However, the concept refers to an approach to thinking about social processes that precedes Mills, and is much more general. This article likely needs some clarification on that, and should properly be focused on defining and explaining the concept of sociological imagination as it is used in the field of sociology, and with a subsection directly addressing Mills' book. I will look for some additional resources including text books and discussion of the concept in the scholarly literature. -- Htw3 ( talk) 20:49, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
I think the article should be structured more like a normal Wikipedia article, starting with a brief introduction to the concept, and then with more details divided substantively below. Some of the major sections could include:
Any thoughts on these sections? Others that are needed? -- Htw3 ( talk) 18:55, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
'The sociological imagination' has come under heavy critique from post-colonial thought, and that's definitely worth talking about. That's ultimately the reason I came to this page on this unseasonably warm evening in London: see what sort of summary wikipedia gave to the critiques made by Spivak, Said, Bhambra, and on and on and on... I don't mean this as a decidedly anti-west sentiment; Mills was talking about specific form of sociology (empirically driven) at a specific time (1950-60s) in a specific place (the United States). Otherwise I think your proposed structure is a great start that it should happen ASAP because frankly this page is a currently a worthless pile of shit. I'll check back periodically and see what develops.... Regress ( talk)
What should be done if part of this article is plagiarized from another source, verbatim, without attribution? The sentence "Our underlying philosophy is that the sociological imagination is best developed and exercised in the introductory class by linking new materials in the context of conflict theory and functionalism." was tagged with a "Who?" on the "Our" rather than obviously tipping that this was pulled from another source. A simple Google search shows that this sentence comes from Tipton and Tiemann's (1993) article "Using the Feature Film to Facilitate Sociological Thinking" from the journal Teaching Sociology. If you actually get the article, this sentence is from the first page. Basically, what should be done in this situation? I'm asking primarily for this article and because I keep seeing this same problem: some Wikipedia editor plagiarizing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.107.94.99 ( talk) 02:38, 26 August 2010 (UTC)
Crux of the argument == individual matters are always social issues — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.84.68.252 ( talk) 07:45, 31 July 2014 (UTC)
There's some clarity lacking in the definition as it is right now. This section here is quite unclear, and repeats itself in the second paragraph quoted:
"Another way of describing sociological imagination is the understanding that social outcomes are based on what we do. To expand on that definition, it is understanding that some things in society may lead to a certain outcome. The factors mentioned in the definition are things like norms and motives, the social context may be the country and time period, and social action is the things we do that affect other people. The things we do are shaped by: the situation we are in, the values we have, and the way people around us act. These things are examined for how they all relate to some sort of outcome. Sociological imagination can be considered as a quality of mind that understands the interplay of the individual and society.
Things that shape these outcomes include (but are not limited to): social norms, what people want to gain from their actions (their motives), and the social context in which they live (ex. country, time period, people with whom they associate).″
172.218.199.10 ( talk) 23:37, 3 August 2017 (UTC)
Use of sociological imagination 223.239.27.253 ( talk) 06:26, 9 January 2023 (UTC)
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 January 2023 and 5 May 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): KristinaAllen ( article contribs).
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