The Sociological Perspective
The sociological perspective looks at the issues which affect the society and looks at the assumptions and beliefs underlying a social problem. The public issues affect the entire society or a large group of people depending on the patterns and behavior of the society. The social construction and social imagination are terms used in the sociological perspective to address the issues affecting a society or the transforming them to the concerns of the majority. Social construction refers to a concept of knowledge in sociology that focuses on the joint understanding of the world through the shared assumptions of reality. It emphasizes on the dependence of the contingent elements in the social lives of individuals. In order to understand the concept of social construction, it looks on issues which could not have existed if they were not built in and the need to build it all in the present form. This study will focus on how unemployment in Australia has affected the society and will be analyzed from the perspective of social construction and the sociological imagination.
The Sociological Imagination
The term sociological imagination describes the people's behavior and attitude in the perspective of the social pressures which conform them. The sociological imagination looks at the way people react to particular issues on the basis of social norms and the environment, concerns which are objective or subjective. When highlighting some of the issues taking place in the society currently, for instance, the unemployment in Australia, there are particular forces which the people in the society have conformed to, thus developing a behavior or attitude that will help them deal with the situation (Carvalho 144). As indicated by Wright Mills on his essay, The Promise, the primary idea attached to the sociological imagination is the ability to understand the connection between the events in the lives of individuals to the wider social forces.
The Sociological Perspective: Unemployment as a Social Trouble
In the sociological perspective, unemployment is considered a social trouble that has affected the members of the society. The importance of employment is to help the members of the society make a living and gain means of raising the standard of living for their families and those who depend upon them. With this in mind, an increase in employment means that people are not able to fend for themselves and have no means of survival. There are various causes of unemployment, among them the social structures and the politically spurred affiliations (Junankar 225). When most people suffer unemployment, it becomes a public issue rather than an individual problem. The public issue of unemployment requires being addressed for the betterment of the society within the immediate social setting. The example of a person being employed gives him a high credit and gains some benefits in the society which are not awarded to those who have no jobs. Due to such reasons, unemployment is a major concern that affects not only the economic aspects of an individual but also the social well-being of those affected by the situation.
The Sociological Imagination: Understanding Unemployment in Australia
According to Josh Maher, the sociological imagination is the ability to look past the everyday life of an individual as a cause for the success and failures, as well as look at the entire society where one lives and the cause for the issues taking place. For the last two to three decades, unemployment has reached the highest level in Australia as a result of the slowing economy. The slower pace of the economy has been contributed to by a drop in the prices of commodities and the increased demand for Chinese products (Fineman 99). Moreover, the property market bubble being witnessed in Sydney has threatened that more people may continue losing jobs. The unemployment of the youths has hit the highest levels and they are the most affected by the crisis. The high unemployment has increased the social cost in the Australian community and thus increased the dependency rate in the nation. The substantial differences and definition of unemployment hinder the temporal trends and international comparisons. The increase in unemployment was accompanied by the growth in the level of hidden unemployment due to the increase in part-time employment and other forms of unemployment.
The Impact of Unemployment in Australia
From the social construction and sociological imagination perspective of unemployment in Australia, the increase in the rate of unemployment has caused an economic stress and derailed the comparison with other nations. This has spread to the entire nation, especially among the youths who are most affected by the phenomenon. Notably, the government has taken up the role to address the issue and enacted a policy that looks at the affairs of the unemployed individuals (Duncan and John, 108). The unemployment in the country is most likely to lead to social vices which will affect the society negatively. High unemployment rates will lead to criminal activities such as gambling, theft, increased rates of suicide, and murders. Unemployment among youths is closely associated with poverty since they have no means of sustaining their everyday survival. The federal is therefore at stake in ensuring it addresses the concerns and ensures distribution of resources to create employment for all in the society.
The Need for an Unemployment Policy
The formulation of the unemployment policy is influenced by factors such as the mutual obligation and also the notion of the workforce as well as the flexibility. The federal has taken up the responsibility of social security for the unemployed citizens, by offering them basic services such as health and the social services in the perspective of enhancing their economic and social needs. The unemployed individuals in the nation are not able to meet the high costs of living which they require in the course of their daily lives to sustain them (Gregory and Ralph, 189). The government, therefore, needs to intervene and create a conducive unemployment policy that will look after the welfare of the unemployed individuals through the federal's welfare system.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the social construction and social imagination help to address concerns in the society which move from personal concerns and become public matters. Unemployment is dominant among the youths and requires the address of the issue. The government has made intervention measures to deal with the issue by enacting an unemployment policy that looks at the social welfare of the unemployed individuals.
Work cited
Carvalho, Patrick. "Youth unemployment in Australia." Policy: A Journal of Public Policy and Ideas 31.4 (2015): 36.
Duncan, James S., and John Agnew. The power of place (RLE Social " Cultural Geography): Bringing together geographical and sociological imaginations. Routledge, 2014.
Fineman, Stephen. "Organizing and emotion: Towards a social construction." Routledge Revivals: Towards a New Theory of Organizations (1994). Routledge, 2016. 97-108.
Gregory, R. G., and Ralph E. Smith. "15 Unemployment, Inflation and Job Creation Policies in Australia." Inflation and Unemployment: Theory, Experience and Policy Making (2016): 325.
Junankar, PN Raja, ed. Economics of the Labour Market: Unemployment, Long-Term Unemployment and the Costs of Unemployment. Springer, 2016.
