SOCS 185N Week 1 Assignment: Sociological Imagination Essay – Addiction (SOLVED)

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SOCS 185N: Culture and Society Social Imagination Essay: Social Imagination and Addiction Sociological imagination is the awareness between an individual and the so... cial forces that shape our lives. Examples of sociological imagination are addiction, homelessness, veteran homelessness, obesity, domestic violence, etc. As stated by Wright Mills, the author of Sociological Imagination, “is enables us to grasp history and biography and the relation between the two within society.” This is a useful concept to help us understand the difference between a person’s struggles and public issues. Sociological imagination helps the everyday person understand why this person came to struggle with whatever they are encountering and what factors they struggle with in their daily lives. Being able to understand why an individual made certain historical decisions based on certain situations will help you understand why they are in the position they currently are and how society has shaped them into this current position. After utilizing sociological imagination, individuals can become aware of other situations that they may be unfamiliar with the struggles that come with it. Sociological imagination comes in a variety of forms from addiction to homelessness to domestic violence. Being able to submerge yourself in a situation and become aware of the forces that shape our lives can help to change how you interact daily, provide help and support to others, and utilize your time to help people in negative situations. A very common example of sociological imagination is addiction. Addiction comes about due to a variety of difference things from poverty, to depression, to socioeconomic status (Adrian, 2003). Many that do not experience addiction are unaware of how this illness tends to shape an individual’s life and the people surrounding them. Sociological imagination is used to bring about the awareness of these factors that mold and shape an individual into the person that in this example is struggling with addiction. The sociological study of suicide and addiction unfortunately seem to go hand in hand, with addiction sometimes leading to suicide. How exactly does sociological imagination help others understand addiction? Addiction comes in all shapes and sizes. This topic of addiction strikes very close to home for me. My brother passed away due to a drug overdose due to his addiction. Being from the same family and pretty much following in his footsteps my entire life made me think what could have caused his path to be so much more different than mine. We grew up in the same family, were around the same people, and were treated the exact same by our family and loved ones. The disconnect is unclear to our entire family. Social imagination helped me really take a deeper look into what placed him in this situation in life. It made me think of every possibility or personal encounter that could have led him astray. I personally chose this topic because it is something that I will live with for the rest of my life. I believe that being able to work through some situations or theories that could have resulted in my brother passing away will help myself be more at peace and learn how to avoid this situation for my own children in the future. As unfortunate as it may be, addiction and suicide tend to follow each other in some situations. Based on personal experience, I have encountered just that with my brother’s passing. Suicide tends to follow depression, as does addiction. Suicide can come about in many different ways and unfortunately affects not only the person involved, but as well as the surrounding people. In a recent center for suicide prevention article, one suicide can affect up to 135 people. A very interesting study outlined in the text was one called “Study of Suicide Applied to Twenty-First Century Young People in India.” Most of the time we associate suicide with people of poorer financial access or lower socioeconomic class. In India, this is not the case. As outlined in this study, an economic boom has taken India by storm over the last twenty years, resulting in intensified job anxiety, higher expectations, and more pressure for individual success (Kendall, 2018). Some areas of this study coincide with social imagination and addiction. People tend to look towards a vice in times of stress, anxiety, sadness, etc. In my own experience, my brother turned to drugs. I personally believe this was due to his inability to adapt to the next stage in his life, which eventually resulted in his passing. In the study in India, these individuals are doing almost the same. They could not cope with the newly added stress from job anxiety or these new expectations set and in turn ended up committing suicide. Where I believe these differ are obviously the routes, they took to eventually commit suicide. While drugs tend to only be associated with a downturn in overall well-being, work stress and anxiety and stress to reach that next tier in your life can be very fulfilling. Whether it be you getting new job or a pay raise, the stress will pay off in the end. References: Kendall, D. (2018). Sociology in our times: the essentials (p. 7). Cengage Learning. Kindle Edition. Adrian, M. (2003). How can sociological theory help our understanding of addictions?. Substance use & misuse, 38(10), 1385–1423. https://doi.org/10.1081/ja-120023391 Watts, W., (1989). Reducing Adolescent Drug Abuse: Sociological Strategies for Community Practice. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56684359.pdf Horvath, A., Ph.D. (2020). Addiction and Sociological Influences: Culture and Ethnicity https://www.gulfbend.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=48420&cn=1408 [Show More]

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