Sociological Imagination And Smoking Analysis

The sociological imagination is a concept created by C Wrights (1959), which encompasses the relationship between the individual experiences and the macro social forces, as well as how things interact and influence each other. Giddens (2006:4) suggests that the problems and troubles of the individual are minor segments of the much larger and boarder societal issues, thus the individual must remove himself from his everyday routine and become an outsider in order to understand society from an external perspective and see the bigger picture within life (Giddens 2006:7). The focus of this essay is to determine how the sociological imagination can help us to understand why people continue to smoke despite the health risks.

Cigarettes are dangerous

Smoking used to be very popular in the early ages when it was introduced. It was sought to have soothing and relaxing qualities, perfect in order to calm soldiers before war as well as acting as a personal pleasure. In many native cultures, smoking tobacco was part of many traditions and rituals and smoke from the mouth was one of the highest forms of worship. It was also believed that smoking had medical benefits and mind-altering effects; people thought that smoking could be a cure for colds and the bubonic plague as it was a pain reliever. However, today it has been discovered that smoking is very dangerous and has no health benefits (Jason Young,

Smoking can be detrimental to your health thus the smoker disadvantages and cigarette companies as well as pharmaceutical companies benefit and thrive from smokers. The more smokers there are, the more cigarettes will be sold, thus this increases profits made by cigarette companies; smoking also increases inflow of cash for the pharmaceutical companies as smoking increases health risks and causes health issues such as bronchitis, lung disease, emphysema, cancer, heart disease and many more. (Reshma Jirage