Becoming Me Sociologists use the sociological imagination in every aspect of their field. The sociological imagination is defined by C. Wright Mills (1959) to be the ability to look beyond social structure to recognize the social ties between which individuals form their behaviors (5). The sociological imagination has countless practical uses but is generally used on a large scale to understand and explore the aspects of societies. Less often, the sociological imagination is used to sociologically examine an individual, or a “self,” which is defined to be “a person’s distinct identity that is developed through social interaction” (OpenStax College 2015:96). Consequently, one can use the sociological imagination to explore one’s “self” and
…show more content…
Access to such opportunity is expressed in sociological terms by social stratification. Social stratification is “a socioeconomic system that divides society’s members into categories ranking from high to low, based on things like wealth, power, and prestige” (OpenStax College 2015:202). Systems of stratification, or systems that promote stratification in a society, are such things as a caste system, a meritocracy, and a class system (OpenStax College 2015:190). In a caste system, social standing is fixed by what caste one is born into without the opportunity to shift, leaving the individual to do the work that their ancestors did before them; while in an ideal meritocracy, social standing is based on effort, thus giving the amount of social standing that an individual “deserves” (OpenStax College 2015:190-191). The United States has a class system, a system in which social standing is based both on merit and class, allegedly allowing individuals to move between them by hard work, or merit, even though it is statistically unlikely (OpenStax College 2015:190-191). In my life, the social stratification of the class system has affected me in that I was born in a lower-middle-class family, and would have doubtless stayed there if I had not gained entry and scholarship into a university. Without this aid, I would have certainly not been able to attend any college, let alone a university, but because …show more content…
In “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All,” Herbert J. Gans (1971), applies the functional analysis to poverty to ascertain whether it is functional for society (1). He lists several functions for poverty, the most notable being: it ensures that society’s “dirty work” will be done; it ensures that the goods that are not used by the affluent are bought; it guarantees the status of those who are not poor, for if there were no poor, then what would they compare their affluence to; it is used to force those in poverty into deviance to further reinforce social norms; and it benefits the affluent by the low wages that those in poverty are willing to work for (2-3). He builds upon that by saying that individuals use those in poverty, or the lower classes, to aid the upward mobility of their social standing, therefore almost every immigrant group has been oppressed in this way, most recently being African-Americans (3). Thus the ties between economic stratification and racial stratification are clear. Consequently, since I am not a member of an immigrant group or racial minority, but a part of the dominant group, or White, social stratification does not affect me in this way. I benefit from white
Access to such opportunity is expressed in sociological terms by social stratification. Social stratification is “a socioeconomic system that divides society’s members into categories ranking from high to low, based on things like wealth, power, and prestige” (OpenStax College 2015:202). Systems of stratification, or systems that promote stratification in a society, are such things as a caste system, a meritocracy, and a class system (OpenStax College 2015:190). In a caste system, social standing is fixed by what caste one is born into without the opportunity to shift, leaving the individual to do the work that their ancestors did before them; while in an ideal meritocracy, social standing is based on effort, thus giving the amount of social standing that an individual “deserves” (OpenStax College 2015:190-191). The United States has a class system, a system in which social standing is based both on merit and class, allegedly allowing individuals to move between them by hard work, or merit, even though it is statistically unlikely (OpenStax College 2015:190-191). In my life, the social stratification of the class system has affected me in that I was born in a lower-middle-class family, and would have doubtless stayed there if I had not gained entry and scholarship into a university. Without this aid, I would have certainly not been able to attend any college, let alone a university, but because …show more content…
In “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All,” Herbert J. Gans (1971), applies the functional analysis to poverty to ascertain whether it is functional for society (1). He lists several functions for poverty, the most notable being: it ensures that society’s “dirty work” will be done; it ensures that the goods that are not used by the affluent are bought; it guarantees the status of those who are not poor, for if there were no poor, then what would they compare their affluence to; it is used to force those in poverty into deviance to further reinforce social norms; and it benefits the affluent by the low wages that those in poverty are willing to work for (2-3). He builds upon that by saying that individuals use those in poverty, or the lower classes, to aid the upward mobility of their social standing, therefore almost every immigrant group has been oppressed in this way, most recently being African-Americans (3). Thus the ties between economic stratification and racial stratification are clear. Consequently, since I am not a member of an immigrant group or racial minority, but a part of the dominant group, or White, social stratification does not affect me in this way. I benefit from white