The image that I chose began as a stock photo of traffic on a highway. I edited the image digitally, paying special attention to the colours, in my effort to reflect the feelings that I have around my understanding of the sociological perspective. I used a painting filter and loosened the strokes to give a sense of movement, highlighting the way society keeps going at all times, and I lightened the colour palette to evoke feelings of warmth and hope. I especially aimed for the position of the sunset, the forward direction of the highway, and the vehicles moving along the turns and twists, to metaphorically demonstrate a sentiment of peace in the ever changing parts of society.
Explain the sociological perspective in your own words.
The sociological perspective is a lens from which we are able to view society objectively. It focuses on noting the obvious commonalities that exist in the areas of our lives in which we readily attempt to demonstrate our uniqueness, as well as considering facets of society where seemingly normal activities have apparently unclear reasons for some of the commonalities that exist within them. In other words, the sociological perspective is “seeing the general in the particular, and the strange in the familiar”. (Cumming 2019)
Explain why you chose this representation to convey the sociological perspective.
I chose this image because it best conveys my understanding of the sociological perspective.The aim of my representative piece is to evoke a sense of urgency as well as structure. I wanted to give the viewer feelings of conflict as well as functionality and even synergy, since my view of society is that people are co-existing in a multifaceted society that is not exempt from complication, and issues that require more or less of our time and attention.
There are areas of society that are perceived to generally work well for many people such as the health care and education systems though internally these institutions and structures suffer from their own struggles ranging from issues between social groups to systematic failures. We also have areas of society that have proven to be problematic for large social groups and which ultimately cause damage to the macrosociological aspects of social populations such as mass incarceration and criminalization of sex work or drug addiction.
Understanding the connection to each driver or car on the highway to one another, and how each of our lives are loosely but still interestingly connected as members of the same society just as people on a highway are, is important to approaching sociological perspective from my point of view.
Though multiple people are using the highway at the same time, these people have different aspects of them which can all be taken into account when observing their highway experience. Drivers can range from students, workers, parents, retired people, visitors and literally anyone who can legally access a highway, and so the way the highway has been built is simply a framework and catalyst for transportation, though it cannot wholly govern and control the actual flow of traffic, or people’s experiences in traffic.
Consider a person who lives in a relatively well designed neighbourhood without road construction, drives a reliable vehicle, has a pass for toll areas, and is in a management position at work. This person's experience may be much different from someone else who has a much less reliable vehicle, lives in an area where there is a road and is not in a position of management, but rather has to report to management if they arrive at work late. Though these two people may have to arrive at their destinations at the same time, preparation required and feelings leading up to the drive for each of them, could look very different. One driver might be relaxed on their way to work, as the other might be anxious. Now, if we imagine an interaction between these two people, perhaps passing by each other on the highway, we can think of numerous ways in which they can impact each other’s day. A look and smile in passing could have a positive impact on one or both of them, whereas something like an unexpected swift lane switch may also have an effect, albeit a negative one. Though these are very simple examples out of many that can exist within the story of the image, they are still a good representation of the symbolic interactions that exist within our society and influence who we are and what we do.
Why do you think that the sociological perspective is an important way to think about the world around you? And, explain why you think sociological imagination is important to your chosen career path.
I believe that the sociological imagination is an important way to think about the world around me, because it allows me to be more observant and objective in my interactions with people who I meet, as well those I come in contact with regularly. The idea of the different ways that our places in society not only affect us, but affect our relationships with the people, opportunities and resources around us can greatly impact the kind of work that I do and the way I live.
I work in the social service sector, and at both of my workplaces, it is my duty to conceptualise new community engagement initiatives, in efforts to not only raise awareness about specific concerns in our community, but to advocate for societal change and to improve the quality of life of the clients that I serve. I also live in the community that I work in, and I find that this gives me a particular advantage in that I am reminded daily of the various ways that changes on large scales are affecting the people around me, whether immediately, or gradually. As an artist, I also think that the sociological perspective is important to opening my mind to depicting interesting aspects of various subjects. I believe that understanding the sociological perspective will increase my objectivity when deciding what is interesting, or uninteresting about a particular focal point, or theme within an art piece.
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