Sociological Imagination and Domestic Violence: A Detailed Analysis

This essay examines domestic violence in Australia through the lens of C. Wright Mills' sociological imagination. It explores the relationship between individual experiences and broader social structures, analyzing the problem using government records and theoretical frameworks. The essay highlights the gendered nature of violence, its impact on individuals and families, and its broader societal consequences. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical context and the interplay of agency and structure in addressing social problems like domestic violence. The analysis draws on Mills' concepts of abstract empiricism and the need to connect individual troubles with public issues, offering a comprehensive understanding of the issue. The conclusion stresses the necessity of a systematic approach to social problems, recognizing that personal troubles often reflect larger structural issues, thereby underscoring the role of sociological imagination in understanding and addressing domestic violence.

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
Sociological imagination and domestic violence
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
Introduction
Social problems generally refers to the presence of certain practices that are
detrimental to the overall growth of the country. Social problems is generally divided in to
categories namely the individual one and the collective one. C.Wright mills in his
Sociological Imagination (1956), wrote about the relationship between the agency and the
structure (Mills 2000). This book was initially meant for commenting on the Parsonian logic,
which relied on building up building grand theory for understanding social problems. The
social problem that will be discussed here is related to the abuse of female bodies in the
domestic sphere (Boxall et al 2015). Domestic violence in Australia is a burgeoning problem
and it will be analysed using the current government records and will be remised on the
theoretical foundation of mills.
Body
Building grand theories and analysing the patterns of social reality without any
knowledge on the empirical reality can be very misleading. Thus, it is important to
understand how the individual biography is related to the history of a particular society. This
kind of understanding is very relevant because it addressed the relationship between the
individual, the way they experience reality within the context of the wider framework of
history. In this way mills was also proponent of abstract empiricism. The concept of abstract
empiricism was a term used by Mills that world be used to address the social problem using
both the quantitative research technologies and theoretical understanding of social reality.
Problems like unemployment or death caused by starvation is not just individual
troubles but they also mount to pubic issue like joblessness or food scarcity at a macro level
(Mills 2000). Individual gets trapped in their day-to-day troubles and fails to understand what
is happening in the larger context. Domestic violence or domestic abuse is one of the
mushrooming problem in Australia this kind of act not only hampers the emotional built of

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
the person affected but also has a larger consequence(Harris Rimmer 2016). According to the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016, 16 % of Australian women have experienced
partner violence. Around 2.9% of women reported that violence by a current partner while
14.6% of women experienced violence by their previous partner (Campo et al 2015). It is
important to understand that the violence afflicted has a gender bias (Harris et al 2016).
Domestic abuse or woman abuse take a toll on the emotional as well as the health conditions
of the victims (Dragiewicz et al 2016). However, it is important to understand that the
violence that is afflicted ruptures the social fabric and produces dysfunctional family
structure. Dysfunctional family structure affects the economy of the particular nation-state
and it has direct relation to the quality of life of its citizen (Livingston 2011). Thus, the
problems that are faced in their private life has a broader repercussion in the continent wide
societies.
The concept of sociological imagination enables the possessor to understand the
larger historical scene in term of the external career of the individual. This concept can be
applied for comprehending the problem of domestic violence in Australia because the
problem will be dealt holistically and the both the aspect of social reality, that is agency and
structure will be addressed. It is important to understand the social problem in the context of
its larger historical process (Johnston 2016). Domestic violence not only disturbs the healthy
atmosphere within the family structure but it also disturbs the future generations because they
experience disorganised patterns of relation. Owing to this kind unhealthy situation, the moral
fabric of the community also gets hampered for which they cannot effectively contribute to
the development of the country. Thus in order to understand the access the problem
holistically both the agent and its relation to the larger structure needs to be accessed. Thus,
sociological imagination is apt for understanding the domestic violence in Australia.
Conclusion

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
Thus, it can be concluded that assessment of a social problem should include
systematic understanding. The personal troubles that people are facing in their private sphere
is just not their personal problem because it advocates to a larger structural problem. Before
comprehending the actual problem it is important to debunk the existing epistemology and
the researcher should have inquisitive position. Data collected about the domestic violence
prevalent in Australia shows how the nature of violence is gendered. This can result due to
many reasons like unacceptance towards occupational spill over within the family ambience,
due to occupational stress, unequal access of to economic resources or sometimes the
traditional status of men being the breadwinner’s position (Crenshaw 2018.). The cultural
construction of gender desires men to be on pivotal position rather than men. Moreover, when
women try to confront these position it results in being abused (Mills 2000). Thus, it is
important to address the context in which the private troubles arise because they have a wider
connotation and here lies the promise of social researchers.

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
References
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