-vijay prashad
DESCRIPTION
“We need to cultivate the imagination, for those who lack an imagination cannot know what is lacking.”. -Vijay Prashad. The Sociological Imagination . Let us imagine a traffic jam…. So what is Sociology?. Sociology. Systematic study of human societies. YOU SHOULD WRITE THIS DOWN. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
“We need to cultivate the imagination,for those who lack an imagination
cannot know what is lacking.”
-Vijay Prashad
![Page 2: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
The Sociological Imagination
![Page 3: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Let us imagine a traffic jam…
![Page 4: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
![Page 5: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
![Page 6: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
![Page 7: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
![Page 8: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
So what is Sociology?
![Page 9: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
SociologySystematic study of human societies.
YOU SHOULD WRITE THIS DOWNOR MAKE SURE YOU GET IT FROM
THE WEB SITE
![Page 10: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
“Sociologists questionwhat most otherstake for grantedabout society.”
-Dalton Conley
![Page 11: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Why is Sociology important?
![Page 12: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Sociological thinking can help us better understand society, how we fit into it, how it shapes us,
and how we can change it.
Sociological thinking—developing a sociological imagination—
is super powerful,in my opinion.
![Page 13: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Let us startwith an easy question:
![Page 14: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Why are you here?
![Page 15: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
“Thinking like a sociologist meansmaking the familiar strange.”
-Dalton Conley
![Page 16: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Sociology won’tgive you all the answers.
But it willhelp you ask the right questions.
![Page 17: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
![Page 18: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
TIME TO READ!
![Page 19: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
C. Wright MillsThe Sociological Imagination
![Page 20: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Remember:Reading is not about
perfect understanding;reading is about learning.
![Page 21: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
How Are We Going To Do This?• You may read alone or with a partner• Please do all of the following:– Read the entire text for our seminar discussion on Monday– Annotate the entire text (what does “annotate” mean?)– Write a 1-paragraph summary in your notebook of the entire
text– Write at least 3 discussion questions in your notebook for our
seminar on Monday– Answer the following questions in your notebook: How does C.
Wright Mills define a Sociological Imagination? What does he mean by that?
• This must all be completed prior to Monday’s seminar. I will not accept any of this late, as it is important to be prepared for our discussion.
![Page 22: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
![Page 23: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
The Sociological Imagination• Annotations• Summaries• Questions• How does C. Wright Mills define a
Sociological Imagination?
![Page 24: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
• Milieu or Milieux–Cultural surroundings or
cultural context
![Page 25: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
“Neither the life of an individualnor the history of society
can be understoodwithout understanding both.”
![Page 26: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
“The Sociological Imagination” defined:
• “A quality of mind that will help [people] use information and develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and what may be happening within themselves.”
![Page 27: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
“The first fruit of this imagination…is the idea that the individual can understand [their] own experience and gauge [their] own fate only by locating [themselves] within [their] period, that [they] can know [their] own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in [their] circumstance.”
![Page 28: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
“In many ways it is a terrible lesson; in many ways a magnificent one.”
![Page 29: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
“By the fact of [your] living [you contribute], however minutely, to the shaping of this society and to the course of its history, even
as [you are] made by society and by its historical push and shove.”
![Page 30: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Intersection of Biography and History
“The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations
between the two within society.
That is its task and its promise.”
![Page 31: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
Personal Troubles vs. Public Issues
Examples?
![Page 32: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Personal TroubleOr
Public Issue?
![Page 33: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Smoking Related Deaths in the US
• More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.
• 300,000 to over 400,000 deaths annually (including deaths from secondhand smoke).
• 49,400 deaths per year from secondhand smoke exposure
![Page 34: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Smoking Related Deaths in the US
• Based on current cigarette smoking patterns, an estimated 25 million Americans who are alive today will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses, including 5 million people younger than 18 years of age.
– Data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Personal trouble or public issue?
![Page 35: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Alright, let us move on.
![Page 36: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
“The first wisdom of sociology is this:things are not what they seem.”
-Peter Berger, 1963
![Page 37: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Sociology has been called,the great myth de-bunking
discipline.
But thinking sociologicallyain’t always easy.
![Page 38: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
What might be some obstacles to developing a sociological imagination?
• Cultural values of individualism and free will
• Desire for certain rather than probable answers
• Social processes are dynamic, not static
• Commitment to “common sense”
• Critical nature of the discipline
![Page 39: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
What might be some benefits of the sociological perspective?
• Humanizing effects– Fosters appreciation for diversity and broadens personal
views
• Liberating– Empowers people to recognize their role in making history– Helps overcome “bad faith”
• Bad Faith = the belief that you have no freedom—when people argue they don’t have a choice but to follow unjust rules or do their job
• Our choices may not be without consequences, but we do have choices (even if they are limited)
• With liberation come responsibility
![Page 40: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
What might be some benefits of the sociological perspective?
• Helps us understand obstacles to solving social problems
• Inoculates us against simple explanations of complex issues
![Page 41: -Vijay Prashad](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081502/568165a4550346895dd884f5/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Anyone who gives you a simple solution for a
complex problem is either ignorant or lying.
Remember this.