Introduction to sociology
The term sociology refers to the study of social order, communal interaction, designs of the social relationships and beliefs that surrounds daily life. According to C. Wright Mills sociological imagination is defined as the awareness of how personal experience is related to society as a whole. From Mills point of view, sociological imagination makes available a basis for understanding our communal world that far exceeds any common sense perception we might develop from our restricted social know-how (lumen). Wright Mills stated, ” no one could understand individual or society without understanding both” Sociological imagination provides a connection between individual challenges and significant social problems.
For a better understanding of Mills view on sociological imagination, we can consider a war phenomenon. The personal problem of war when it happens, maybe how to die in it honourably, or how to benefit from it or how you can help to end the war. But the structural problem of conflict is the cause, with what type of men it throws up into command, its economic and political effect.
Sociological imagination on gender inequality. Gender inequality is the rough treatment or opinion of persons based on their sexual characteristics. It originates from variances in socially made gender role. Gender classifications are always dichotomous and ordered; gender double systems may reveal the inequalities that are noticeable in many proportions of daily life. Gender inequality curtails from differences, whether empirically originated or communally created. Sexual characteristics roles advance by internalization as well as identification during childhood. From birth, parentages intermingle differently with children conditional on their sex. Through these relations, parents can impart different beliefs or personalities in their children on the base of what is normative for their gender.
Gender disparity in relationships has been growing intensely, but for the majority of affairs, the power lies with the man. Even today, men and women provide themselves in different gender lines. Looking in cultural stereotypes of intelligent in women and men, it will show gender discrimination in self-presentation. From the studies that were carried, it was discovered that female believed that if they revealed their intellect to probable partners, it would reduce their chances of getting them. On the hand, men would readily share their intelligence with potential partners. Women are cautious of people’s undesirable reaction, so they limit the disclosure to only reliable allies. Women can disclose their secret more often with an assurance that a true friend will respond positively. Intelligent continues to be regarded as being more of manly than womanly characteristic.
Illustrating Mills point of view, we can use sociological imaginations to comprehend some present-day social issues. They are beginning with unemployment which is a problem that is facing many developing countries. In Mills discussion, he noted that if only a few individuals were jobless, it would be considered their problem. However, when lots of peoples are unemployed, lack of job will be presumed as a public problem since the configuration of opportunities has shrunken. So, its right to consider unemployment as personal trouble when few people are out of work while when there is massive unemployment, then unemployment should be viewed as a public problem.
From lecture four about gender and sexuality, sex is defined as the biological identity of an individual. In contrast, gender refers to is socially constructed categories that, in some societies, are based on the dual system that distinguishes between masculinity and feminist and men and women. In the recent past, gender identities like transgender have been embraced and advanced. Different traits are associated with different genders, for instance, men are expected to be masculine, stoic, aggressive, risk-takers etc. while women are thought to be emotional, submissive, weak, expressive and domestic.
When we consider social institution, we will find that there is social inequality. In work and economy, in 2017, women earned 82 cents to every dollar men made, and this may require some adjustment since the wage gap is so huge. Still, in the social institution, women tend to be segregated into the lower-paying job, and sexual harassment affects 40 to 60 per cent of the women. Institutional inequality against women can also occur in a performance assessment that is used to define managerial rewards like compensation, promotion and punishment. An organization with more formal job ladders that are used to dictate and constrain work promotion opportunities, women are less likely to advance (Hing). This happens because job ladder tends to be divided by gender, for example, gender job segregation that is seen at the entry-level position will be strengthened as workers move up their specific ladder with no opportunities to cross to another line of advancement. Consequently, women will lack given job experiences that are not available within their particular job ladders, making them unmerited for promotion.
There is also social inequality in family and intimate relationship. Studies show that in every three women, one of them has ever faced domestic violence in her lifetime. Also, women spend an average of 2.19 hours per day on household activities while men spend only 1.41hrs. Hostile sexism represents the association between men and women as a rivalry for power, depicting women as trying to get control over men and using the excuse of impartiality to get ahead of men. Hostile prejudice defends men’s privileged general status by undervaluing women competency, encouraging violent behaviour towards women who challenge men’s communal power and threatening women from following independent accomplishment.
In governance and political arena, there is a significant disparity between men and women. Women’s low political representation is often regarded as gender inequality. In particular, the portion of seats held by women in national assembly was chosen as one of the pointers to determine gender impartiality and women fairness (Fox). According to the Center of Women in politics, in 2019, 25 of 100 U.S senators, 102 of 435 U.S representatives and 9 of 50 U.S governors are women. It shows that women hold about 28.7 per cent of states legislative seats in the United States of America. Globally, less than 19% of national parliamentarians are women. Proportion system all in many countries is being used to increase the number of women representation and includes inserting of party lists and setting aside seats for women. Women have casual roles of impact, acknowledgment and power within the public as mothers, and volunteers as well as community leaders. Feminine leadership often has a focus on public service; nevertheless, these leadership attributes can be tapped and formalized to give women political decision-making power.
In the health sector, gender disparity it depicted in various aspects. According to sociologists Margaret Anderson and Taylor, teachers tend to pay less consideration to girls and women in the learning institution. Society tends to perceive the girl child as less critical to the community compared to the boy child. More than 56 per cent of girls in learning institution has ever experienced sexual harassment, and almost 20% of college women experience sexual assault. It shows a clear indication that there is gender inequality in the education sector.
Men also tend to be negatively affected by gender discrimination. They tend to die earlier than women because of different social practices. In 2013, in a single offender victim cases, eighty-eight per cent of murder victims were males killed other males, this according to bureaus of justice statistics in 2014, women do not kill each other quickly. Another thing about male is the whole thing about not baking down, something which is called victim precipitated. It implies that the person who started the fight end up being killed. The idea of not backing down from a fight is through which the tension escalates until someone dies. When life goes wrong, something like divorce or layoff, one tends to think is their fault. There is a lack of social interaction and social integration. Men also tend to engage in risky behaviour which contributes to their increased death.
About documentary by the Keele university on the sociological imagination, the promise of the sociological imagination unsettling the sociological production of insignificance (Keele University). Possibly the most successful peculiarity with which the sociological imagination works is between the individual predicaments of the environment and the public issues of the communal structure. Worries happen within the individual and through the range of instantaneous association with others. The municipal situation that is directly open to his obstinate action, trouble is a private problem. On the other hand, issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of his immediate lives. They have to do with the organization of many milieus into the institutions of historical society as a whole, with the in which various milieu overlap and interpenetrate to form a more massive structure of historic social life. Hence an issue is a public matter.
Gender-based violence is fierceness targeted at an individual or individuals centred on their sexual characteristics. A related form of viciousness is Violence against Women and Girls, which is focused precisely at women. GVB is often divided into categories, that is, interpersonal and institutional violence. Interpersonal violence is any act of inequality by an individual against another individual. Structural violence denotes to any form of institutional disparity or structural discernment that maintains an individual in an inferior position, whether physical or sociopolitical, to other people within the family, domestic or community. Both types involve the arrangement of hegemonic manliness above the rights of other gendered individuals, including women.
A feminine infanticide is a life-threatening form of GBV, incorporating actions such as terminating female fetuses and killing girl babies. This practice is common in Arabs states in countries like India and China. Parents in these nations are being pressurized to give birth to male inheritors to protect the family line. People have a habit of to see their girl children as burdens.
Gender inequalities need to be eradicated by all efforts by shunning away from practices such as female genital mutation and early/forced marriage, which have adverse consequences for girls who are subjected to them.