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The authoritative sociologist C. Wright Milles first introduced one of the most
essential framework/mindset in sociology, the Sociological Imagination in
The Sociological Imagination originally published in 1959. It delineates several
fundamental models of thinking in order to explain social situations.
Firstly, Milles emphasized that in order to find the answer to why we are here
and why we are where we are, one must put external forces such as race,
gender, history, and social classes, etc. into consideration as they are all
shaping ones behavior besides individual factors. It is therefore at the
intersection of biography and history could we find the answer to the
aforementioned questions.
Secondly, Milles has systematically divided factors affecting the occurrence of
a situation into Troubles and Issues. Troubles are personal private matters
that are felt by individuals; Issues are matters that go beyond the individual
level, and relates more with the bigger structures, systems in the society and
are on a public level.
One could employ the sociological imagination model to analyze social issues.
I have chosen recent news from Hong Kong as examples to illustrate the
sociological imagination perspective.
For instance, the recent news of senior citizens being abused by elderly
centers staff in Hong Kong has caused a wave of discussions in the society
concerning elderly living in these care centers. It is essential for us to identify
the different levels of factors leading to such occurrence in order to tackle the
problem in the future.
On a public level, there could be loopholes in the governments geriatric
assessments in elderly care centers. For example, there are not enough
unexpected checks by government staff in care centers to ensure the centers
staffs are giving services that are up to par. The lack of promotions concerning
elderly abuse could be a reason to the continuous occurrence of them; some
elderly people do not know how to distinguish different kinds of abuse or are
not aware of them. (E.g. some are less obvious, such as mental abuse). Not
knowing that they can report them, they simply tolerate.
On a personal level, although the Social Welfare Department statistics show
an increasing number of elderly abuse cases reported, it is believed that many
elderly people who are more conservative do not want to report the cases as
a matter of dignity. While this is a personal matter felt immediately by them,