Trying to identify to what degree the characteristics that could be perceived as biological are the result of cultural circumstances and to what degree they are changeable is one of the primary sociologists’ interests. Awareness of social realities, mapping them, and finding one’s place is an exercise that stems from sociological imagination. Achieving the state of cultural awakening may be a strenuous task requiring continuous concentration on social surroundings and ascribing choices, interactions, and behaviors to sociological contexts.
The status of an individual may be seen as everyone’s prerogative; nevertheless, becoming an individual is a process that occurs under the influence of an array of societal elements, according to certain rules and practices. The cases of feral children demonstrate that becoming a fully functioning individual requires stimulating mental, physical, and emotional activities, which are only available in a community. Societal influences are deep-rooted – assimilation of behavioral patterns and responses as an almost entirely unconscious process hinders self-deconstruction (Rousseau, 2020). Researching societal structures requires stopping society for an instant in its continual change. The paradox is that society is constantly changing, but also remains in a stable state. A holistic social structure remains fixed for some period, but, at the same time, the form of social structure changes – this shift can be either gradual or sudden (Rousseau, 2020). Society, in the broad sense, is a part of the material world that has separated from nature but is closely related to it, which includes individuals and ways of human interaction.
The basis of society’s transformational potential is the values, attitudes, norms, patterns of behavior, and ideals that govern social activity and the behavior of individuals. Some methods of sociological research, such as observation, interviews, and content analysis, to be successful, require control over variables that are hard to achieve. Hence, sociological imagination is a state that can be reached by specific individuals or prompted by academic examination.
Reference
Rousseau, N. (2020) The Sociological imagination, neoliberalism, and higher education. The Southern Sociological Society, 1-7.