The sociological imagination, according to C. Wright Mills, is essentially the individual sociologist’s awareness and understanding of the relationship between an individual and his or her society as a whole. Questions of how and why an individual or group acts the way they do in the context of society as a whole are addressed by Mills’ sociological imagination.
Teen birth rates in the United States are much higher than the rates in other western, industrialized nations. However, European nations have vastly different cultures than the United States, and these cultures heavily impact the actions of the young people contained within these cultures. In the United States, teenagers in many parts of the country are subjected to abstinence-only sexual education programs. These programs are designed to withhold important information regarding birth control, human biology, sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy termination to teenagers. Armed with incomplete or even inaccurate information, it’s no wonder teenagers in America are pregnant at a higher rate than their European counterparts.
In a similar vein, American teenagers in heavily religious communities are often not allowed access to birth control or any kind of reproductive services. Pregnancy termination in heavily religious areas is verboten, and young women who become pregnant in these communities often feel that their only choice is to have and raise the child, rather than having the pregnancy terminated. Because of this pressure, it seems that more American teens would feel the need to carry a pregnancy to term than their European counterparts, who do not face the same type of pressure in society as a whole.
It seems that today, teenagers are becoming sexually active at younger and younger ages, especially since the Internet facilitates easy and unmonitored communication. In the past, social norms held that individuals of different genders should be kept apart as much as possible until marriage, but today, more and more people find that unnecessary. Because social norms regarding sexual behavior have changed, teenagers in certain parts of the United States are more likely to become pregnant and carry a child to term.
Bibliography
Mills, C. Wright. The sociological imagination. Oxford [England: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.
