"Working Lives": The use of auto/biography in the development of a sociological imagination

Abstract

Résumé de l'articleDans cet article, nous évaluons de manière critique la démarche de développement d'une imagination sociologique que nous avons entreprise auprès d'étudiants inscrits en première année du baccalauréat en sociologie d'une université britannique. Effectuant une analyse sociologique de biographies et autobiographies de professeurs et d'étudiants, nous avons tenté de créer une qualité d'esprit pouvant donner aux étudiants les compétences sociologiques nécessaires à l'examen critique de différentes formes sociologiques. Ainsi, nous leur permettons non seulement de comprendre la sociologie en tant que discipline académique mais également comme expérience personnelle transformatrice. Selon la rétroaction obtenue auprès d'un grand nombre de groupes d'étudiants, il apparaît évident que la relation entre la sociologie, l'expérience vécue et la conscience personnelle a eu une influence profonde et stimulante sur ceux ayant développé cette qualité d'esprit. ABSTRACT. This article critically evaluates the attempt of the authors to develop a sociological imagination within first-year undergraduate students studying the discipline of sociology at a British university. Through a sociological analysis of biography and autobiography (of both teachers and students), we attempted to create a quality of mind that would provide our students with the necessary sociological skills to critically interrogate different sociological forms, and allow them not simply to understand the subject as an academic discipline but also as a personally transformative experience. It was evident from the feedback from a number of student cohorts that the connection between sociology and the lived experience and personal consciousness had a profound and empowering impact on those who came to develop that quality of mind.

Sociology Students as Storytellers: What Narrative Sociology and C. Wright Mills Can Teach Us about Writing in the Discipline

“…There is also the related concern of how to ensure confidentiality in the assignments (Grauerholz and Copenhaver 1994). As such, Stephenson et al (2015) require students to complete the ethical approval process so that students do not risk overexposure in their autobiographical study. In any case, the life story assignment offers a way for students to exercise their sociological imaginations while honing a personal and creative writing voice.…”

“…Autoethnographies are rarely assigned as texts in the sociology classroom. But Teaching Sociology documents many instances of using some rendition of the autoethnography as a writing assignment (Adams 1986; Cook 2014; Ingram 1979; Kebede 2009; Nichols 2004; Powers 1998; Ribbens 1993; Riedmann 1991; Stephenson, Stirling, and Wray 2015; Stoddart 1991). Though the authors do not always refer to these writing assignments as autoethnographies—Stoddart (1991), for example, calls them “lifestories” and Kebede (2009) “sociological autobiographies”—all of the assignments involve applying sociological ideas to one’s life history.…”

Prosaic sites of multiculturalism as educational encounters in neo-liberal higher education: Sociological imagination and reflexive teaching and learning in the multicultural classroom

“…As such a sociological imagination allows us to see the relationship between biography and history (Mills, 1959: 6). Adopting this idea as a pedagogical imperative to teaching sociology, Stephenson et al (2014Stephenson et al ( , 2015, for instance, developed an original module entitled 'Working Lives' using biographical and auto-biographical methods. Their approach was centred around the importance, in the development of a sociological imagination, of being able to link personal experiences with broader societal issues and to make the connection between self and structure, agency and structure.…”

“…The value of a sociological imagination is to critically address the relationship between self to the structure. Stephenson et al (2015) argue that ‘… sociology can be personally transformative in a way that no other academic discipline is, or can be, which is both the promise and purpose of sociology (Mills, 1959)’ (p. 163). Fostering a sociological imagination in particular can be transformative in that it allows transgression and divergence from the neo-liberal consensus where problems are imbued to individuals’ choices and actions: ‘Emancipation through sociological enlightenment’ resides in the ability to go against the hegemony of a neo-liberal refusal to engage with structural constraints (Stephenson et al, 2015: 163).…”

“…Stephenson et al (2015) argue that ‘… sociology can be personally transformative in a way that no other academic discipline is, or can be, which is both the promise and purpose of sociology (Mills, 1959)’ (p. 163). Fostering a sociological imagination in particular can be transformative in that it allows transgression and divergence from the neo-liberal consensus where problems are imbued to individuals’ choices and actions: ‘Emancipation through sociological enlightenment’ resides in the ability to go against the hegemony of a neo-liberal refusal to engage with structural constraints (Stephenson et al, 2015: 163). Developing a sociological imagination in a prosaic site of multiculturalism, such as the multicultural classroom in this post-1992 institution, further asserts the importance of different voices, of their inclusivity and the way in which individually as well as collectively they can be transformative.…”