SOC 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Social Forces
Document Summary
Without guidance from the sociological imagination, we are tempted to attack all problems by treating individuals. Again, this is because of our individualistic bias, which makes it hard for us to see beyond our own personal and immediate circumstances. With such a limited perspective, it"s hard to see that some of our worst problems are a result of social forces. The advantage of the sociological imagination or perspective, then, as mills discovered, is that it opens up new resources for problem solving. Many of the most serious problems experienced by individuals, such as unemployment, have social causes, so it is futile to try to remedy or fix them at the individual level. When, in a city of 100,000, only one man is unemployed, that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look to the character of the man, his skills, and his immediate opportunities.
