Sociological Imagination vs Mindfulness vs Social Construction of Reality

Earlier this week and last week, we were learning about sociological imagination, sociological mindfulness, and social construction of reality.

Sociological imagination is defined as the idea that people are shaped by things they can't see, and C. Wright Mills said it is the intersection of a person's history and biography.

For example, living today as a gay person is far safer for me than living in the middle ages as a gay person. Because today in Illinois, sexual orientation and gender identity are both protected by the anti-hate crime laws. But back in the middle ages, there were no such thing as anti-hate crime laws; stoning a gay person to death was actually condoned. And although it's still very dangerous today to be an LGBT+ person (especially a trans person), it's quite a bit better than it used to be.

Sociological mindfulness is seeing the sociological imagination and acknowledging it, and also being self-aware.

For example, I'm well aware that I'm what could be considered "wealthy," and being wealthy in this society comes with a number of privileges, among them are a good education and being almost assured a good job. Poor people struggle a lot to make ends meet, and their safety net is constantly being cut by the wealthiest of the wealthy who don't care about them. Growing up wealthy is kind of growing up in a bubble. You don't KNOW suffering the way poor people do, until you go to a food bank and see it with your own eyes. Once I was made aware at a young age of my wealthy privilege, I stopped taking everything I have for granted. I realize that my family is very lucky. Even though my parents are divorced, my mom managed to keep the house and our 3 pets while also supporting my sister and I. And my dad lives in a very nice apartment in the city. The fact that my parents could even AFFORD to live separately is a privilege.

We watched a short slam poetry video of Marshall Davis Jones called "Touchscreen," about how kids these days are completely disconnected from each other, which has to do with sociological mindfulness, because most kids these days aren't playing outside or making friends. They become disconnected and ignorant of how other people might see them.

Social construction of reality is something created by society that determines whether feelings and experiences are "socially acceptable" or not.

In class, we talked about saliva versus spit. Saliva and spit are exactly the same thing, but saliva is inside your mouth and spit is outside. We talked about how spitting is considered gross and inappropriate...unless you play baseball, then spitting is considered "normal" and even encouraged.

For example, in the US it's considered "normal" for people to address their peers by their first names. It would be considered weird to do anything else. But in Japan, it's considered incredibly offensive to call someone by their first name unless:

1. You're related to them
2. You're dating them
3. You're very close friends with them

Because Japan has such a polite culture. While speaking Japanese, you actually say "please" more than in any other language, while in China, overusing the word "please" can be considered offensive.

Even though they share many aspects of their cultures, Japan and China are very different when it comes to politeness.