It’s up in the Air, or Is It Essay

The article elaborates on how individual sociological imagination can connect social structure to life history. In this case, sociological imagination refers to understanding of individual behavior as the product of historical processes that affects a person’s social environment. The rules of social structure are considered to restrict the conduct of individuals and also mould outcomes for them. However, students are not able to see the connection between individual action and structural outcomes. In sociological imagination, social structural explanation can be used to answer the several questions of social stratification. It is evident that other forces than individual characteristics shape the outcome and distributions of societal rewards (Renzulli, Aldrich, Reynolds, 51). Organizations help to reduce inequality in the society by allowing prospective entrepreneurs from different social origins to access to wealth-generating assets. In order to show how social structure of society shapes the results for individuals, the students can be engaged in a multiple rounds of coin tossing game. The game will also include some rules and regulations to be followed. The results of the game will be highly predictive on how the social structures mould the outcomes of individuals. From the distribution of the coins, the students will realize that inequality and personal prosperity are not the result of personal characteristics (Renzulli, Aldrich, & Reynolds, 56). The alteration of the rules of the game will help the students to see how real world processes generate inequality in the community. It is clearly acknowledged that, structures and rules affect a person’s ability to access an opportunity regardless of his or her talent. However, some improvements have to be done on the game in order to give the best results to the students. Therefore, coin tossing game can be used to effectively demonstrate how sociological imagination increase student understanding of the social world.