Social Construction and Sociological Imagination

This essay explores the concepts of social construction and sociological imagination in understanding unemployment as a social problem in Australian society. It discusses the impact of globalization on unemployment rates, the causes of unemployment, and the social implications of being unemployed. The essay also examines the role of family and community in managing unemployment and the structural context of the Australian labor market.

Running head: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Introduction
Social constructionism has been instrumental in remodeling grounded theory. In
attempting to make sense of the social world and daily social activities of individuals, social
constructionists perceive knowledge as constructed as opposed to created. Social constructionism
and sociological imagination are regarded as important theories of sociology. Michailakis and
Schirmer (2014) have noted that in sociology there can be witnessed individuals’ personal
dilemmas and public issues which align to the concept of sociological imagination developed by
C. Wright Mills. Mills successfully elaborated social logical imagination as the vivid awareness
of the association between experience and broadened aspect of the society and further to perceive
oneself away from the familiar associates of everyday life (Galbin 2014). As individuals personal
and public issues are well connected with sociological imagination and social construction
theories it has been interconnected with issues related to do unemployment. The following essay
will evaluate the ideas of social construction and sociological imagination to understand
unemployment as a social problem in Australian society.
Discussion
Sociological Imagination to Understand Economic Inequality in Australian Society
In recent times unemployment in Australian society has emerged as a critical issue which
can no longer be disregarded. Increasing levels of unemployment along with 5 rate of
homelessness and public awareness of the financial disparity between the economically
advantageous and disadvantageous has been increasingly apparent to the society. Studies
conducted by Dannefer, Kelley-Moore and Huang (2016) have found that for many Australians

2SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
home ownership, secured employment, substantial salaried job appear to be redundant
aspirations by a bygone era.
According to Huang, Perales and Western (2016), it is easy to put accusations on
individual for these issues. However it is important to note that when several individuals
encounter similar problems and challenges it no longer remains and individual issue but
gradually develops into a society problem which must not be overlooked. Thus, using the social
logical imagination theory one can view that Australia comprises a proud legacy of
egalitarianism. However, as globalization gradually started to receive significant momentum
during the late 20th century several business organisations rationalized their operations in order
to sustain their competitiveness in the international market (Jenkins 2014). Such maintenance of
competition by organisations has been led by introducing superior machinery and advanced
information technology services along with outsourcing inexpensive offshore labour which
gradually replaced the local workers.
These changes in the industrial sector gradually witnessed the rate of unemployment to
drastically augment from 5% in 1972 to 13% in 1995 and to 6% in 2017. Reports of authors have
revealed that more than 95,000 Australians have been looking for secured employment in 1966,
which have elevated to around 720,000 in 2018 (Olofsson et al. 2014).On the other hand
comprehensive studies of authors have noted that sociological imagination has further help in
explaining the causes of unemployment which has been affecting housing affordability in recent
times. Authors have revealed that home ownership has become an inaccessible dream for several
low-waged or unemployed Australians. According to Huang, Perales and Western (2016) the
economic girls between the financially beneficial for employee class and the unemployed
Australian households can be witnessed when the unprivileged section tends to conflict or

3SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
struggle in order to you repay their mortgages all loans. According to Dannefer, Kelley-Moore
and Huang (2016), conflict theory states that tensions and conflicts tend to arise when financial
resources status and power are unevenly distributed between groups in society. These conflicts
search highly decisive role in bringing change to the society. There can be witnessed conflicts
among individuals who are employed and unemployed. According to Michailakis and Schirmer
(2014), employment has the competence to create a certain level of influence and power over the
society whereas, the unemployed section of the society remains to the powerless, weakened and
distressed section who struggles to attain any available income. At this point of discussion,
through the application of sociological theory it can be seen the way institutional, historical,
structural and socioeconomic forces in the society have played a critical role in these
circumstances.
Understanding Unemployment as a Social Construction
Meanwhile Galbin (2014) has opined that the tradition of sociological investigation
which dated back to the 1936 has persistently indicated the diversity of responses in the face of
job deprivation and unemployment. Stephenson, Stirling and Wray (2015) have noted that
unemployment can be marked differently from in activity and employment. These two aspects
can be considered as social status. On the contrary, employment as per the view of McLaughlin
and Sheridan (2016) has been identified as a problematic situation rather than a social status.
Thus, according to the social constructionism theory being unemployed implies to the situation
of being turned towards the exit and further directed to find a way out.
However, a major implication of the problematic nature of unemployment in Australia
indicates that individuals have been encountering deprivation of job opportunities must involve

4SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
themselves in specific occupations purposed to find a way out of the situation that is to
restructure new prospects and project oneself into different scenarios and does into employment.
Galbin (2014) has noticed that consequently the quest for employment has been regarded as a
vital factor for the unemployed sector who can escape the stigma of being unemployed by
obtaining a secured job. However in the view of Michailakis and Schirmer (2014) a quest for
secured employment is not only understood as a rational investment strategy, but to eliminate the
period of unemployment which consequently serves as an unexpected indication which implies
in reducing the insecurity which stigmatizes the aspects of an employment. However more than a
way of living a social status the actual experience of unemployment according to social
construction implies to the confrontations that uncertainty leads one to develop ways of
eliminating the stigma from their lives.
Comprehensive studies of McLaughlin and Sheridan (2016) have noted that the
populations in Australia who have been impacted by unemployment tend to constitute a single
social category. On the other hand, Koenig and Eagly (2014) have noted that the probability of
becoming unemployed tends to be substantially in accordance to the professional training,
knowledge development, status, age level of education, experience as well as ethnic attributes.
Social construction of an employment in Australia has been signified by a lecture of the
equivalence between work deprivation and unemployment. According to Parsell, Tomaszewski
and Phillips (2014) when a margin between employment and unemployment is highly permeable
other categories of subjective as well as political identification tend to achieve underlying factors
related to homelessness. Authors have noted that not only these factors are highly utilized but are
more effective than unemployment when negotiating social protection. Studies conducted by
Koenig and Eagly (2014) have claimed that the institutionalization of employment tends to show

5SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
utmost weakening aspects whereby the public employment institutions show incompetence in
development with a lack of bureaucratic accountability and measures to facilitate people to
return to work are practically nonexistent. Considering these factors, protection against the
consequences of unemployment in Australia and against its threats it represents certain level of
personal survival and struggle which depends less on the institutional measures taken by the
State rather than on the structures of local community relations.
At this juncture, considering these factors the family is identified as a fundamental unit
for managing unemployment more specifically for developing the strategies to deplete monetary
resources. According to McLaughlin and Sheridan (2016) such an interdependence which has the
propensity to exist between the members of this basic economic unit tends to show its preference
towards the distribution of participation in economic activities which obtain an income. On the
other hand brother community associations such as extended family, religious groups, cultural
associations and neighborhoods also provide insights and resources further intensifying the
involvement of individuals in activities whose status show uncertainty but the economic and
monetary dimension has been established. Dannefer, Kelley-Moore and Huang (2016) have
noted that proximity harmony tends to contribute to the formation of the unemployment
experience whereby it orientates towards the practice of remunerated activities as a response to
the critical appreciation of financial resources which have been triggered by the unemployment.
Such solidarity according to social constructionism theory further creates as well as consolidates
systems of commitment, reciprocity, gratitude, and obligations which clearly leave the
implication of unemployment on individual circumstances. According to Galbin (2014) these
state of affairs tends to weaken the institutionalization of unemployment and also of
employment.

6SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, the assessment of activities has been specifically favoured are
constrained by the structural context along with specific institutional norms in Australia. The
diversity of mechanism has contributed to the production of the implications of unemployment
particularly to the role of informal employment as well as the regulation of employment relations
along with the system of social protection and well being and family structures. The way in
which Australian labour market has been structured tends to enter the reproduction of
intermediary situations characterized by destabilized legislative codification. Such structural
formation of labour market tends to distress the forms of employment which are not entirely
constituted in the concept of employment.

7SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
References
Dannefer, D., Kelley-Moore, J. and Huang, W., 2016. Opening the social: Sociological
imagination in life course studies. In Handbook of the life course (pp. 87-110). Springer, Cham.
Galbin, A., 2014. An introduction to social constructionism. Social Research Reports, (26),
pp.82-92.
Huang, Y., Perales, F. and Western, M., 2016. A land of the ‘fair go’? Intergenerational earnings
elasticity in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 51(3), pp.361-381.
Jenkins, R., 2014. Social identity. Routledge.
Koenig, A.M. and Eagly, A.H., 2014. Evidence for the social role theory of stereotype content:
Observations of groups’ roles shape stereotypes. Journal of personality and social
psychology, 107(3), p.371.
McLaughlin, K.A. and Sheridan, M.A., 2016. Beyond cumulative risk: A dimensional approach
to childhood adversity. Current directions in psychological science, 25(4), pp.239-245.
Michailakis, D. and Schirmer, W., 2014. Social work and social problems: A contribution from
systems theory and constructionism. International journal of social welfare, 23(4), pp.431-442.
Olofsson, A., Zinn, J.O., Griffin, G., Nygren, K.G., Cebulla, A. and Hannah-Moffat, K., 2014.
The mutual constitution of risk and inequalities: Intersectional risk theory. Health, Risk &
Society, 16(5), pp.417-430.
Parsell, C., Tomaszewski, W. and Phillips, R., 2014. Exiting unsheltered homelessness and
sustaining housing: A human agency perspective. Social Service Review, 88(2), pp.295-321.

8SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Stephenson, C., Stirling, J. and Wray, D., 2015. " Working Lives": The use of auto/biography in
the development of a sociological imagination. McGill Journal of Education/Revue des sciences
de l'éducation de McGill, 50(1), pp.161-180.