Explain the ideas of ‘social construction’ and the ‘sociological imagination’ and apply them to how unemployment is commonly understood as a social problem in Australian society.
Introduction
Social construction and the sociological imagination are concepts within psychology that apply to societal perspectives that have developed over time throughout generations. As one perceives aspects of life as bogus ideals in society, only significant because they are given that stature; the other widens our perspective as it allows us to view the world as a bigger picture through a non-bias lens therefore enabling us to analyse and examine our social world. In the case of Unemployment in Australia, it is seen by many as a dispute between two opposing …show more content…
(Cole, M. (2007) However, the sociological imagination expresses unemployment as a “pressing problem” not for the unemployed but for the “social structure” of society as unemployment is “a public issue concerning a lack of economic opportunity”. (Andrews, Christopher, 2007) In the case of Australian society, individuals are criticised by their peers- viewed as “bludgers” who would rather collect benefits off of the working class than join the workforce themselves by rejecting jobs that do not “fit around their families’ needs”. (Yeomans, C. …show more content…
(2014). Through sociological imagination however, we can conclude that “the longer a person has been unemployed, the fewer job offers they may receive” (Allmendinger, Jutta and Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer (2007). The issue of unemployment is greater than whether people do or do not desire to work. As shown through the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in mid-2014 “146,100 jobs vacancies” (Yeomans, C. (2014) were available, however by mid-2017 there was a total of “250,000… unemployed or underemployed” (Workman, A. (2017) individuals. It is not a case of “taking an opportunity… do-ing extra training or work experience” but a matter of “generat-ing job growth” (Yeomans, C. (2014) for the
Introduction
Social construction and the sociological imagination are concepts within psychology that apply to societal perspectives that have developed over time throughout generations. As one perceives aspects of life as bogus ideals in society, only significant because they are given that stature; the other widens our perspective as it allows us to view the world as a bigger picture through a non-bias lens therefore enabling us to analyse and examine our social world. In the case of Unemployment in Australia, it is seen by many as a dispute between two opposing …show more content…
(Cole, M. (2007) However, the sociological imagination expresses unemployment as a “pressing problem” not for the unemployed but for the “social structure” of society as unemployment is “a public issue concerning a lack of economic opportunity”. (Andrews, Christopher, 2007) In the case of Australian society, individuals are criticised by their peers- viewed as “bludgers” who would rather collect benefits off of the working class than join the workforce themselves by rejecting jobs that do not “fit around their families’ needs”. (Yeomans, C. …show more content…
(2014). Through sociological imagination however, we can conclude that “the longer a person has been unemployed, the fewer job offers they may receive” (Allmendinger, Jutta and Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer (2007). The issue of unemployment is greater than whether people do or do not desire to work. As shown through the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in mid-2014 “146,100 jobs vacancies” (Yeomans, C. (2014) were available, however by mid-2017 there was a total of “250,000… unemployed or underemployed” (Workman, A. (2017) individuals. It is not a case of “taking an opportunity… do-ing extra training or work experience” but a matter of “generat-ing job growth” (Yeomans, C. (2014) for the