Applying Social Imagination Theory to I-Witness Documentary

C. Wright Mills is the author of The Sociological Imagination which encourages individuals to change their own view about their lives and adjust their current perspectives. He believed that the struggles we are facing are not only because of us but also because of our society which needs our wider lenses. He also argued that people sometimes feel “trapped” by their troubles or their personal circumstances, as stated in Sociology at Work.

In the documentary, we heard the Badjao named ‘Juli’ say that he does free diving as his source of income to feed his family, a responsibility he cannot run away from. The Badjaos, according to Juli’s uncle, fled from Mindanao to Manila because of the pirates that basically bully them. This incident is an example of C. Wright Mills’ definition of Sociological Imagination which is where society is seen by individuals as the reason of their successes and failures.

This incident may have also contributed to the Badjaos’ common negative connotations like ‘poor’ or ‘poverty-stricken’. We can connect Juli’s job or his way of living because of how his uncle taught him how to dive deep in the seas to regain the Badjaos’ lost dignity from the pirates. Juli’s problem in his job can be traced back to the problems of his society he is living in like undeveloped agricultural sector, low percentage of poverty reduction, and even the government’s corruption that makes the poor, poorer and the rich, richer.

From Mills’ book, he also wrote that individuals can find their troubles within the character of them and within the range of their immediate relationship with others. Juli has found his trouble of doing a dangerous and harmful job because of his relationship with others. He told in the documentary that he chooses and prefers free diving than begging for alms because he knows to himself that he is shy. On the other hand, we can tell by Juli’s expertise in free diving that he have managed to understand the society around him because of how he can still feed his family and how they can still survive even with his low income in his dangerous job and even with a much inconvenient way of getting their food.

As a part of society from Juli’s life, it is important to know that we shouldn’t think of his life negatively. We do not have the power to blame him from being in this pathway for again, individuals like us aren’t the only one that can determine our life’s triumphs and defeats, for society has also a big factor on it. Juli’s part of his life including their history as Badjaos that was shown in the documentary have opened a way for us to understand him as individual.

As Mills would say, individuals and history can be both perceived by understanding them separately. From the above, I can say that I have entered social imagination for it starts when you think about perspectives that differ from you just like what I did with Juli’s share of life from the documentary.