FREE ESSAY ON SOCIOLOGICAL IMMAGINATION

SOCIOLOGICAL IMMAGINATION

Dave Bradley 
Sociology 1A
Jason Defay
12-6-99 
My Sociological Imagination 
In my words, Sociological imagination is a way for a person to look at their life as a
result of their interaction with society. It can explain why a life is lived with way it
is lived and all events, decisions, successes, and failures that have occurred. In my
life I have encountered many situations, problems, opportunities and events. I can use my
sociological imagination to examine these and figure out why I am the way I am and also
why I have chosen to do certain things
When I was born, my father was in medical school. He was a practicing doctor by the time
I was four and was the first person in southern California to get an MRI machine for his
office. Being one of the pioneers of Magnetic Resonance Imagining has made him very
successful and allowed for my family to be very well off. From this I have always
considered being a doctor. My father's job has always be so exciting, new, and
progressive, that I have also wanted to go into medicine If the invention of MRI had not
occurred in history I never would have grown up the way I did. My father's success
however has also significantly shaped another part of my life. He must have considered
himself to good for my mom because he divorced her when I was seven. This has definitely
shaped the way I go about making certain decisions. First of all I am the most faithful
boyfriend in the entire world and also am quite clingy to my girlfriend. I suppose that
she has filled the gap that my father left. I also plan to be faithful to the woman I
choose to be my wife. Without the invention of MRI and even without living in the
technologically advancing society we live in, I wouldn't be this way because my father
wouldn't have left.
Other historical events that have shaped both me and society are the Cold War and the
economy of recent years. When I was a boy I began to learn about the Cold War and
communism. I was taught that the reason for the Cold War was to make sure that we as a
country stayed strong in order to keep communism from spreading to American and
destroying our free way of life. I was also taught that freedom and capitalism are great
because there is always incentive for hard work in our society. I remember watching Rocky
IV and thinking how horrible it must be to live in a communist society. Because of these
events I can easily say that I am a capitalist and am happy to live in a capitalist
society. This feeling has only grown stronger in recent years. The success of the economy
has given me such and interest in economics and business that I have taken it upon myself
to do market research and basically figure out how to make money in the stock market. I
don't believe I would be such a strong capitalist if it had not been either for the
national feelings of hatred for communism that soaked into me during the Cold War or the
current state of the stock market that I have found incredibly interesting. 
I also have made certain choices about what activities to partake in that I feel are a
result of society. Society puts such a crown on the athlete that it has transpired into
the popularity hierarchy of high school and below. In these institutions the guys with
the most friends are the athletes. This also affected and me and gave me ambition to play
sports in high school. I wanted to be cool. Where I may never have taken up basketball;
it became a huge part of my junior high and high school experience. In addition to this,
I have been affected by the governments anti- drug campaigns. Because of the ads on TV I
don't want my brain to be like that on drugs. Also, I don't want to smoke or drink
heavily. I don't know if this would have been the case had I grown up I another country
where at least smoking is not so heavily advertised against. In these examples, I feel
society has shaped my mentality towards what I should do.
This is my idea of why I am the way I am through the use of my sociological
imagination. I feel that I have grown up a certain way due to factors that society and
historical events are responsible for. My sociological imagination has told me much about
who I am and I plan to continue to use it to continue to find myself and define myself. I
see that it is a powerful tool and I feel stronger and better than before I had explored
myself in this way.