Sociological Imagination

Casey Alexander

Culture & Society

Professor William Tutol

October 31, 2018

Sociological Imagination

          A personal problem can be caused by a larger social issue based off of simple aggregation. It all comes down to the personal problem having structural characteristics of society. For instance, a close friend of mine suffers from depression. As a child she was raised by her father and yearned for her mother. Watching her friends have both her parents as well as her girlfriends being raised by their mother took a toll on her after a while. She then became emotionally unstable which started to affect her behavior. Not wanting to go to school, lashing out at her father and isolating her from family and friends started to become her lifestyle. Being raised in a single parent household has become an increasing social epidemic. 1 out of every 2 children will be raised either by their mother or father alone. It is according to the U.S Census Bureau, there are 12 million single parent families with children under the age of 18.

        In terms of cause and effect, the relationship between her personal problem and social issue ended in a negative outcome. Missing out on knowledge/advice that only a mother can give to a daughter, motherly love and nurturing ended in her being diagnosed with depression. This also caused her to feel abandoned, unwanted and not worthy. Not having a mother figure made her jealous of people who did which caused her lash out at her father and blame him for why her mother wasn’t around. As you can see, a personal problem can be caused by a larger social issue because even though its one person experiencing the problem, in society it continues to add to the stress on our systems which make this an ongoing issue.