Social Inequality and the Applying of Sociological Imagination

Question #1 

The issue of social inequality can be explained from the three sociological perspectives, including symbolic interactionism, conflict theory, and functionalism. Social inequality involves the availability of opportunities and rewards in an unequal manner for diverse social statuses in a society or population ( Trevino, 2017 ). From a functionalist perspective, social problems such as inequality are essential for the proper functioning of society ( Barkan, 2020 ). Stability is required in the development of a solid society. Social institutions play essential roles in maintaining stability. Changes in social structure should be gradual to protect social order ( Barkan, 2020 ). According to the conflict theory, social problems such as social inequality is caused by faults in a society’s structure ( Barkan, 2020 ). Therefore, social inequality shows that there exist fundamental errors in social structure. To eliminate social inequalities, extensive reforms in the societal structure are needed. Such reforms would lead to the development of an egalitarian society ( Barkan, 2020 ). A symbolic interaction perspective argues that social inequality is caused by how people interact with one another. Individuals engaged in socially undesired behaviors learn them from other people ( Sugrue, 2015) . In the case of social inequality, this means that people who engage in actions that deny other an equal opportunity to things such as education or employment because of race or even gender do so because they have learned the practice from others. Besides, how an individual sees the issue of social inequality depends on what has been learned about the issue from other people. 

Question #2 

The information learned from this course will be fundamental in applying sociological imagination to help solve some of the common social problems in society today. The acquired knowledge has helped me see society today as a social product that is developed and can be changed people themselves, including myself. The information has also helped me understand myself better. 

References 

Barkan, S. E. (2020).  Social problems: Continuity and change . Creative Commons. 

Sugrue, N. M. (2015). Symbolic interactionism at the epicenter of inequality research.  Symbolic Interaction ,  38 (4), 634-637.  https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.190 

Trevino, A. J. (2017).  Investigating social problems . SAGE Publications.