Answer to Question #181509 in Sociology for Lerato

Question

Using the sociological imagination discuss your experiences with racism and address your understanding of racism in South Africa

Answer 1

The sociological imagination is the ability to situate personal troubles within an informed framework of larger social processes.

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) presents the sociological imagination as the ability to see the relationship between one’s individual life and the effects of larger social forces. One way to help students see all the external forces that have influenced their arrival in your classroom is to push them to answer the question: “Why did you enroll in college?”

“To learn.” Can’t you learn on your own? Studying what you want, when you want at a much lower cost?

“Okay, so to earn a degree.” This is a great place to talk about how our society is increasingly credentialed. The college, accrediting organizations, deans, professional associations all define what it takes to be awarded a degree, a certificate that serves as a cultural symbol of legitimation and distinction, helping to sort people into categories. You see these hung on walls in offices to signal expertise to others. As an individual, you make choices, but those choices are influenced by a modern social context that makes the consequences of those choices very real.

It's 2021, almost 27 years into South Africa’s democratic dispensation, and racism is still playing out in the country’s schools.

Most recently, a primary school teacher was accused of separating children according to race. Elsewhere, a high school was accused of progressing white pupils who failed while holding back black pupils who’d failed. There have been numerous other stories of racist behavior, separatist language policies, and instances of schools turning away largely black pupils, claiming their classrooms are full.

This is happening despite legislative changes since the end of apartheid, along with a noticeable change in the demographics of former white and private schools.

The problem is that general assimilatory practices persist. These don’t deal with each learner as an individual. Instead, they expect black students to think, look and speak like their white peers so that they don’t somehow stand out. The attitude of “this is our school, our culture, our language; if you want to be here, you will have to accept and adapt to it” is rife.