Local-Global Nexus Exercise: Social Injustice And Sociological Imagination

Select one theme or concept (such as sociological imagination, social injustice, social justice, human rights, globalization, homophobia, etc.) from any of your chosen chapters.

Define each concept.

Explain the local and global connections of the two concepts.

Using the news media (newspapers, magazines, TV, internet, look for one example of a local event and a global event which illustrates each of your chosen theme or concepts.

Using the concept the global sociological imagination, explain how the two events are connected. For example, the homeless in Vancouver and Port au Prince, Haiti. What are the causes? Who are the victims? Who are the beneficiaries? Who caused it? What caused it? How are the two situations (local and global) connected? What remedies do you recommend? (Two recommendations should be enough)

Define the term “global sociological imagination.

For an illustration of the global sociological imagination, watch my video http://www.quist-adade.com/cocoa-beans-story.html (Links to an external site.)

Your last entry should be in the form of a reflective essay on the course. Using any one of the core concepts and recurring themes discussed at the beginning of the semester, such as the sociological imagination, the global sociological imagination, critique, debunking, obvious, etc., reflect on what you learned or unlearned in the course and how your chosen concept enhanced your understanding of the sociological issues covered in the course. What were your preconceived notions about any one specific issue, e.g. social injustice, global inequality, homophobia, sexism, or racism, and how the course as a whole helped you to shatter those preconceived notions? Begin your reflective essay with a definition of your chosen core concept.

The course textbook on sociology outlines various topics that illustrate the different aspect of sociology. However, in this assignment, it is going to focus on one of the chapters and use two events to explain the same. The topics are social injustice. In elaborating the concept, the solution will provide the meaning of the idea, use two events to illustrate the idea then provide the connection and remedies to the conditions.

It refers to a condition whereby people are engaging in unfair practices in the community according to Bhambra & Santos, (2017). The action usually affects many people; however, it is something that is against the law of the nation. There are various forms of social injustice, one of the ways include discrimination in society. In this situation, people get multiple forms of victimization basing on the color of their skin, age, culture, religion among many factors. The second form of social injustice is ageism. It is a type of prejudice where individual rights of people get violated because of their age in reference to Denzin, (2016). For instance, they may be too old or too you young to defend on their rights. The last type of social discrimination is homophobia, whereby the sexual minority in the community undergo some sufferings.

On the other hand, in this assignment, it is going to use television to explain an instant of the local and global event on social justice. According to the CBC news of Canada, the investigators released a 256-page report that shows how legislators have ignored the welfare of the people in the society according to Hart, (2018). Many people are ailing and dying because of the poor conditions they are living. They do not have access to the quality health facility while the policymakers in Canada are not looking into the story. However, when it comes to a global situation that shows social injustice is the situation in America whereby more than 80% of the leaders are men. Women are facing challenges in getting their way to the leadership, and no legislator can come up with a bill to protect women interest.

Sociological imagination refers to the act of having the capability to think for oneself away from the individual’s public daily life. Using sociological imagination, the person can give the matters facing him or her a critical view apart from the usual way of solving issues. In this situation, examples of social injustice are the neglection of the rights of people in Canada and ignorance of women in America. The connection between the two events is that all of them affect the society negatively in reference to Housley, Procter, Edwards, Burnap, Williams, Sloan & Greenhill, (2014). The citizens are the most affected people in these two events as the political leaders benefit with their families. Consequently, the primary cause of these two social injustice cases is the neglect of political leaders. If the leaders in Canada had come up with a policy to secure housing and focus on health, many residents would not have lost their lives.

Social injustice

Remedies for the two social injustice cases

1.    The legislators need to come up with a law to protect the welfare of the members of the society and provide a mechanism to evaluate if the policy is winking.
2.    In the case of America, there is a need to change the law so that women have a certain percentage of reserved seats in the assembly.  

References

Bhambra, G. K., & Santos, B. D. S. (2017). Introduction: Global challenges for sociology.

Denzin, N. K. (2016). The qualitative manifesto: A call to arms. Routledge.

Hart, C. (2018). Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Research Imagination. Sage.

Housley, W., Procter, R., Edwards, A., Burnap, P., Williams, M., Sloan, L., ... & Greenhill, A. (2014). Big and broad social data and the sociological imagination: A collaborative response. Big Data & Society, 1(2), 2053951714545135.

 In this second part of the assignment, it is going to elaborate on social imagination as one of the themes of the semester. The most critical issue in this part is to bring out the lessons I have learned concerning the topic.

Social imagination refers to the ability of an individual to critically on an issue without influencing his or her daily life. The main lesson I learn from the above theme of the semester is to view things the way they are happening, interact and influence one another according to Jeanette Wiley, (2015). The capability one should get from this theme is that it is essential always to have an alternative conclusion is whatever one is studying. However, many people have been affected by their daily lives as it affects the way they make judgments on various matters according to Dinerstein, Schwartz & Taylor, (2014). Such matters include social injustice, inequality, sexism, and homophobia. These are the main issue facing the globe today, and people should view them differently according to what they are seeing.

On the other hand, one of the specific issues that relate to the topic of social imagination is global inequality. It refers to a situation whereby some nations are ahead of others regarding education, development, economy among other factors in reference to Fraser & Hagedorn, (2018). However, the difference sometimes leads to envy among citizens of the two groups of the countries, when this happens, it creates hatred among people in the world which is not good.

My preconceived notions towards the issue of global inequality are that the low developed nations should always abide by everything the developed nations say, however, after learning the point of social imagination my thinking has to widen. Despite some countries having more development than others, it is not a source of hatred according to Gould, Pellow & Schnaiberg, (2015). However, what should be evident in this case is that all the citizens should live in harmony. One should not view the situation of others and treat them in a wrong way. Even though learning of social imagination has taught me on thinking capability, the issue I am not able to understand from the theme is the reason why there is still social injustice. The primary source of social injustice is the difference in capability of various individuals or people in reference to Newman, (2018). For example, some may be seeing themselves to be more potent than others hence talking the advantage to exploit other people.

Apart from the above lessons, the other things I have learned concerning social imagination is that one can apply the concept in various ways. An example is taking of coffee. When individuals agree to meet for a coffee drink. One should not view the interest of drinking only but a platform to chat and give various views concerning an issue.

In summary, social imagination is a broad topic that widens thinking of an individual. The way one thinks can shape his or her future. People are faced with various challenges that require one to think critically and give a sound decision.

References

Dinerstein, A. C., Schwartz, G., & Taylor, G. (2014). Sociological imagination as social critique: Interrogating the ‘global economic crisis’.

Fraser, A., & Hagedorn, J. M. (2018). Gangs and a global sociological imagination. Theoretical criminology, 22(1), 42-62.

Gould, K. A., Pellow, D. N., & Schnaiberg, A. (2015). Treadmill of production: Injustice and unsustainability in the global economy. Routledge.

Jeanette Wiley (2015). Sociological Imagination: A Critical Way to the World: Retrieved from https://aese.psu.edu/students/research/ced-urj/news/2015/sociological-imagination-a-critical-way-to-the-world

Newman, D. M. (2018). Sociology: Exploring the architecture of everyday life. Sage Publications.