Sociological Imagination

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1

Sociological Imagination

Richard Sheppard

Grantham University

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 2

Sociological Imagination

Often, society is asked an important question. It’s a question that is hotly debated amongst the politicians at the White House all the way down to the everyday man and woman. It has the ability to impact our finances, our family life, and our country overall as a whole. It also has been asked on at least 13 occasions by our own government over the last 238 years. That question is, “Should we catapult our nation into the depths of a war to obtain the outcome desired by the majority? After all, there are still those who oppose it.”

The United States has the largest military spending budget by far, accounting for over half of all the money spent on the military in the top ten nations for military expenditure ( SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, 2012). As the nation itself is more and more militarized, it stands to reason that the individuals who inhabit this nation would support the military. However, this is not always the case. There are many people who tend to lean the extreme opposite of militarization, and embrace pacifism instead. Pacifism is the belief that all war and conflict is abhorrent and unnecessary, and peace can be obtained through non-violent means (Merriam-Webster, 2013). In this perspective, I will provide my rendition of an experience that is guaranteed to resonate with any pacifist: my military career.

“Great, another one gets ready to be another sheep in the government war machine, not knowing he could have had a better life than what he is choosing to live.” This is what I think to myself every time I watch all of these new young faces plod through the process of enlisting in the military just to fight a war, one that won’t do anything but get people killed.

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 3

How they don’t see that they are just cannon...