Sociological Imagination: Understanding Social Injustice and Global Inequality

This article discusses sociological imagination and its application in understanding social injustice and global inequality. It provides examples and remedies for social injustice and reflects on the lessons learned from the theme of the semester. The article also highlights the importance of critical thinking and widening one's perspective.

Running head: SOCIALOGICAL IMAGINATION
Sociological imagination
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SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 2
Part one
The course textbook on sociology outlines various topics that illustrate the different
aspect of sociology. However, in this assignment, it is going to focus on one of the chapters and
use two events to explain the same. The topics are social injustice. In elaborating the concept, the
solution will provide the meaning of the idea, use two events to illustrate the idea then provide
the connection and remedies to the conditions.
Social injustice
It refers to a condition whereby people are engaging in unfair practices in the community
according to Bhambra & Santos, (2017). The action usually affects many people; however, it is
something that is against the law of the nation. There are various forms of social injustice, one of
the ways include discrimination in society. In this situation, people get multiple forms of
victimization basing on the color of their skin, age, culture, religion among many factors. The
second form of social injustice is ageism. It is a type of prejudice where individual rights of
people get violated because of their age in reference to Denzin, (2016). For instance, they may be
too old or too you young to defend on their rights. The last type of social discrimination is
homophobia, whereby the sexual minority in the community undergo some sufferings.
On the other hand, in this assignment, it is going to use television to explain an instant of
the local and global event on social justice. According to the CBC news of Canada, the
investigators released a 256-page report that shows how legislators have ignored the welfare of
the people in the society according to Hart, (2018). Many people are ailing and dying because of
the poor conditions they are living. They do not have access to the quality health facility while
the policymakers in Canada are not looking into the story. However, when it comes to a global

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 3
situation that shows social injustice is the situation in America whereby more than 80% of the
leaders are men. Women are facing challenges in getting their way to the leadership, and no
legislator can come up with a bill to protect women interest.
The relation of the two events and remedy recommendation
Sociological imagination refers to the act of having the capability to think for oneself
away from the individual’s public daily life. Using sociological imagination, the person can give
the matters facing him or her a critical view apart from the usual way of solving issues. In this
situation, examples of social injustice are the neglection of the rights of people in Canada and
ignorance of women in America. The connection between the two events is that all of them
affect the society negatively in reference to Housley, Procter, Edwards, Burnap, Williams, Sloan
& Greenhill, (2014). The citizens are the most affected people in these two events as the political
leaders benefit with their families. Consequently, the primary cause of these two social injustice
cases is the neglect of political leaders. If the leaders in Canada had come up with a policy to
secure housing and focus on health, many residents would not have lost their lives.
Remedies for the two social injustice cases
a. The legislators need to come up with a law to protect the welfare of the members of the
society and provide a mechanism to evaluate if the policy is winking.
b. In the case of America, there is a need to change the law so that women have a certain
percentage of reserved seats in the assembly.

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References for part one
Bhambra, G. K., & Santos, B. D. S. (2017). Introduction: Global challenges for sociology.
Denzin, N. K. (2016). The qualitative manifesto: A call to arms. Routledge.
Hart, C. (2018). Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Research Imagination. Sage.
Housley, W., Procter, R., Edwards, A., Burnap, P., Williams, M., Sloan, L., ... & Greenhill, A.
(2014). Big and broad social data and the sociological imagination: A collaborative
response. Big Data & Society, 1(2), 2053951714545135.

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Part 2: Reflective essay
In this second part of the assignment, it is going to elaborate on social imagination as one
of the themes of the semester. The most critical issue in this part is to bring out the lessons I have
learned concerning the topic.
Sociological imagination
Social imagination refers to the ability of an individual to critically on an issue without
influencing his or her daily life. The main lesson I learn from the above theme of the semester is
to view things the way they are happening, interact and influence one another according to
Jeanette Wiley, (2015). The capability one should get from this theme is that it is essential
always to have an alternative conclusion is whatever one is studying. However, many people
have been affected by their daily lives as it affects the way they make judgments on various

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 6
matters according to Dinerstein, Schwartz & Taylor, (2014). Such matters include social
injustice, inequality, sexism, and homophobia. These are the main issue facing the globe today,
and people should view them differently according to what they are seeing.
On the other hand, one of the specific issues that relate to the topic of social imagination
is global inequality. It refers to a situation whereby some nations are ahead of others regarding
education, development, economy among other factors in reference to Fraser & Hagedorn,
(2018). However, the difference sometimes leads to envy among citizens of the two groups of
the countries, when this happens, it creates hatred among people in the world which is not good.
My preconceived notions towards the issue of global inequality are that the low
developed nations should always abide by everything the developed nations say, however, after
learning the point of social imagination my thinking has to widen. Despite some countries having
more development than others, it is not a source of hatred according to Gould, Pellow &
Schnaiberg, (2015). However, what should be evident in this case is that all the citizens should
live in harmony. One should not view the situation of others and treat them in a wrong way.
Even though learning of social imagination has taught me on thinking capability, the issue I am
not able to understand from the theme is the reason why there is still social injustice. The
primary source of social injustice is the difference in capability of various individuals or people
in reference to Newman, (2018). For example, some may be seeing themselves to be more potent
than others hence talking the advantage to exploit other people.
Apart from the above lessons, the other things I have learned concerning social
imagination is that one can apply the concept in various ways. An example is taking of coffee.
When individuals agree to meet for a coffee drink. One should not view the interest of drinking
only but a platform to chat and give various views concerning an issue.

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In summary, social imagination is a broad topic that widens thinking of an individual.
The way one thinks can shape his or her future. People are faced with various challenges that
require one to think critically and give a sound decision.

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References for part two
Dinerstein, A. C., Schwartz, G., & Taylor, G. (2014). Sociological imagination as social critique:
Interrogating the ‘global economic crisis’.
Fraser, A., & Hagedorn, J. M. (2018). Gangs and a global sociological imagination. Theoretical
criminology, 22(1), 42-62.
Gould, K. A., Pellow, D. N., & Schnaiberg, A. (2015). Treadmill of production: Injustice and
unsustainability in the global economy. Routledge.
Jeanette Wiley (2015). Sociological Imagination: A Critical Way to the World: Retrieved from
https://aese.psu.edu/students/research/ced-urj/news/2015/sociological-imagination-a-
critical-way-to-the-world
Newman, D. M. (2018). Sociology: Exploring the architecture of everyday life. Sage
Publications.