The Sociological Imagination

In his Sociology on the Street video, Dalton Conley gives a tour of his childhood neighborhood and memories in an attempt to describe the concept of sociological imagination. He defines this as connecting our personal experiences to broader historical forces. To me, using my sociological imagination means looking at the social influences of my past and thinking about how they have shaped who I am. I also like to play make-believe with my sociological imagination, thinking about how alternate social situations could have made me different from the person I am now. In this post, I'll share the social influences of my own childhood and explore how they are connected to the way I see myself. 

I grew up in a tiny farm town in Ohio, essentially some houses and restaurants surrounded by corn and lots of it. Summers were spent shopping at farmer's markets and watching thunderstorms, and winters were mild and quiet. The most exciting things to happen were usually high school football games, or the annual street fair. You may think that a sleepy place like this wouldn't make much of an impact on a person, but after a little bit of introspection, I realized that it did have an impact on me. In Cortland, the pace of life was slow and the people were few. I now live in a more urban area (outside of Detroit) and it's not easy. After we moved, I developed an anxiety issue, and so I have these debilitating panic attacks in crowded places, when stuck in heavy traffic, and anywhere else where people are busy, stressed, and on most edge. I miss the quiet, open-air feel of a small town, and I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons I was drawn to Houghton. I'm also pretty sure that I'll look for a career in a small area. For some people, I think the social structure of where they grew up is what they will often seek out in adulthood, either because it's the most comfortable, because they feel they belong, or because they just don't know any different.

The move to Michigan was also difficult for me because I had to change schools, but I didn't have the typical issues of making new friends or adjusting to a new routine. What made it difficult was that I went to a Catholic school in Ohio, and transferred to a public school in Michigan. I loved going to Catholic school. It was small, I knew everyone in my class and had known them since kindergarten, we got to wear uniforms, my parents were always involved, and many more reasons. But looking back, I realize that Catholic school was also very sheltered. When I started public school, I experienced a bit of a culture shock. All the girls wore makeup and tight clothes with the same labels on them. The boys said words I didn't know (swear words, I later learned). Classrooms were rowdier, lunch was terrifying, and kids lit things on fire on the bus. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be noticed or be invisible, I just knew I wanted to fit in. Long story short, I ended up with a nasty eating disorder, the after-effects of which still plague me to this day. Between Catholic school and public school, I was in two entirely different social environments, one where I was a confident, if shy, student, and the other where my confidence was wrecked and I ended up getting sick. In this way, the change in social influences completely altered the way I viewed myself.

More recently, I have found myself in a new social group: people with divorced parents. The move to Michigan put a big strain on my parents' relationship, and they just couldn't make it work. They now live in separate houses, both are happy, and one has even remarried. For me, the divorce has impacted the way I view relationships, and the way I view my family. As far as the former, I am definitely wary of relationships and a little commitment-shy. It is hard not to be a little cynical when the main relationship you have to look up to doesn't work out. Regarding the latter, I am sometimes embarrassed to tell people that my parents are divorced, especially boys that I might want to be romantically involved with. I'm afraid people will think that since that my parents couldn't stay together, a relationship with me won't be successful in the long term as well. However, I will admit, that is probably just my fear about myself. I also sometimes feel shame around families who are still all together. Regardless, the social stigmas of divorce can definitely be cited as things that influence how I see myself and my family.

I ask myself this all the time: What if I never moved to Michigan? Would I be in a better situation or a worse one? I know for a fact that I would be different. I always wonder if I would not be so anxious about things, or if I would have never had to deal with an eating disorder. Maybe my parents would still be together. Living in Ohio, I most likely would have been able to grow up at a slower pace in a safer, more comfortable social environment. I'm sure there would have been challenges, but I'm also sure those challenges would have been different from the ones I faced in Michigan. I like this exercise and using my sociological imagination because not only does it give me insight into my own life, but it helps be identify some broader social factors that might be impacting other's lives. I think that using sociological imagination is like being a "fly on the wall" trying to interpret the reasons why people act, interact, and think the way they do.