‘Sociological Imagination' as explained by C. Wright Mills is an individual's ability to recognize the connection between the course of their own lives and the role that historical and societal changes play in the personal decisions they make (Mills, 1959). Unaware of the effect of this connection on the kind of people they are becoming, they are unable to solve personal troubles as they look for solutions within themselves as a biographical entity (Mills, 1959). They fail to identify the structural transformation that is responsible for their private troubles. Dilemmas that individuals face within themselves or amongst direct relations with others are known as personal troubles (Mills, 1959). In contrast, public issues, are troubles that affect a large number of people in the local environment of an individual (Mills, 1959). They often occur due to the instability of economic and political institutions. Structural changes causing personal troubles pose a serious question: Are personal constraints faced by an individual a public issue?
Social imagination acts as a guideline to evaluate our personal, mundane decisions. Our personal lives are controlled by our own biological and historical transformations as they overlap with our social environment (Mills, 1959). Concerning my personal experience, this paper will analyze the sociological forces affecting my personal decision of attending university in Canada. As an 18-year-old high school student, I was asked to make the most life-changing decision of my life. By analyzing the thought process of choosing Canada, I believe that from the sociological perspective, various micro-sociological factors like concerted cultivation, personal cultural capital and social mobility within society and macro-sociological factors like politics, global hierarchies and inequalities between nations, influenced my decision.
The fact that I "chose" to go to university in Canada may imply that this was a personal decision with no influence of social factors. However, Mills argues that what we "choose" to do is often influenced by social forces. I am originally from India but I grew up in Dubai. Therefore, my decision to go to university in a place other than my hometown or birthplace itself is a personal decision driven by micro-sociological factors. I studied in an international school and therefore when it was time to choose where we wanted to go to university, most students decided to move away from home. Attending university in highly developed countries like Canada, the US and the UK is considered more prestigious than attending universities elsewhere. According to TopUniverties 2014 statistics, students from the Middle East constitute around 10% of international students in the US, 6% in the UK and 3% in Canada (TopUniversities, 2015).
Students often aim to increase their cultural capital and therefore, make decisions based on what holds highest social value. Cultural capital is defined as the social assets one possesses in addition to their economic wealth and social class that promote social mobility in a stratified society (Cole, 2017). University rankings and their international reputation play a huge role in defining the cultural capital gained by going to countries with top-ranked universities in the world. Around 15%-24% freshman students rated university ranking by country as "very important" in choosing their destination (Espinnosa, 2014). While rankings helped students identify the cultural capital of studying abroad, more significant sources of influence included communication with parents, friends and high school counselors.
Watching all my peers choose universities in countries like the US and Canada motivated me to do the same. The universities we were determined to attend and the countries we wanted to live in established our educational status; students who chose to stay back home for college were considered less smart and academically unsuccessful as compared to students who studied abroad. This discrimination created a psychological and social pressure on many of us to study in countries like the UK, Germany, the US, and Canada. In this case, the social force of historical context, as described by Mills, can be rooted back to westernization as part of colonialism. Westernization began in the 19th century, post the European Colonization (Sen, 2002). Countries started adopting the Western culture in their education, politics, economics, language, and lifestyle (UNESCO ,2009). As a result, Western countries such as USA, Canada, the EU, the UK and many more, were and still are considered superior to the rest of the world.
Westernization is often regarded as part of globalization (Sen, 2002). The thought that the West is better than the rest of the world has been engrained into the minds of people for several centuries. Consequently, education has been highly westernized in various countries and is considered as the stepping stone for success in this world of globalization. Although the schools in Dubai were highly westernized, the universities still needed development regarding the range of degrees they provided and the international recognition they had around the world. Therefore, not only did my peers and I prefer moving to the West for university, but our parents encouraged us to do so too. Due to the notion that countries in the West are more business savvy, 65% of parents in the UAE said that they would be willing to send their kids to study abroad (Pennington, 2017). Students and parents are also attracted to the flexibility of the learning environments in American and Canadian schools, thereby influencing their decision to send their children away for higher education.
While most of us were motivated to move to the West, some students had to stay back as their families felt it was unnecessary to send their children so far away. Even families with similar financial statuses and religious values had a difference of opinion. Through social imagination, it can be asserted that the problems that students face in convincing their parents are more biographical and personal. The biographical aspect of social imagination focuses on the personal lifestyle of an individual and the immediate environment they live in and interact in every day (Mills, 1959). Students who stayed back often belonged to conservative families, while students who moved away were tied to more liberal families and values. We can link this back to the two types of parenting techniques evaluated by Annette Lareau. Most liberal families preferred concerted cultivation over accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation is a parenting technique that involves parents taking an active role in fostering activities and opportunities for their children (McKenna, 2012). In contrast, accomplishment of natural growth is a parenting technique that involves parents sustaining their child's growth through authority (McKenna, 2012).
Most students that chose to study abroad grew up with techniques of concerted cultivation and were, therefore, able to communicate their choices and reasoning to their parents. Communication was vital for these liberal families to weigh the pros and cons of any decision: especially one that would affect their individual lives over the long run. On the other hand, few students with the same financial options and educational standing in school belonged to more authoritative families and were unable to communicate their dreams of studying elsewhere. They were forced to obey the instructions of their parents. Conservative parents believed that the quality of education received was insignificant as long as the degree obtained was the same. These parents wanted to keep their children close and make sure that their cultural values were not forgotten.
Students, like myself that chose to study abroad, were then subjected to the trouble of selecting where they would go. While students mostly chose countries in the West, a lot of us were inclined towards the USA and Canada. According to the Association for Consumer Research in Hong Kong, there are four main characteristics that students use when choosing to study overseas: course structure, country characteristics, cost of attending university and living, and administrative processes such as university acceptance and work-placements post-graduation (Lawley;Yau, 1998). American and Canadian universities follow a flexible learning style whereby students are allowed to choose a variety of courses. Furthermore, they use the latest technology for teaching, preparing the children to operate in this tech-savvy world (Pennington,2017). The administrative processes of both these countries are similar and function with ease (Lawley;Yau, 1998). Additionally, both countries allow international students to stay and search for jobs for a significant period: an attractive feature for many international students. The only way students can differentiate between these countries is through their political and economic characteristics.
As we initially began making our decisions, most of us were more inclined towards American universities. There has always been a debate as to which universities are better, Canadian or American. Most of us chose the States as our desired destination due to its collection of highly-ranked, well-known universities. However, this year, like a lot of international students around the world, my peers and I changed our minds and were determined to go to Canada. According to the Atlantic, American universities experienced a 39% decline in international undergraduate students just from the Middle Eastern region (Bendix, 2017). In contrast, Canadian universities like Concordia and the University of Alberta have experienced a 27% increase in their international undergraduate applications from countries like India (+233%), Mexico (+325%) and Iran (+317%) (ICEF, 2017). Surprisingly, many Canadian universities have seen a 50% increase in American students this year (ICEF, 2017). One of the main reasons for this sudden change was the rising ethnocentrism in the States during and post 2017 elections. Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture and usually creates a divide between societies as one culture is considered superior to the other (LSE, 2017). During the election, President-elect, Donald Trump used ethnocentrism to create anger, fear, and divide between the ethnic majorities and minorities through ideas such as the immigration ban and "wall-building (LSE, 2017)." Ethnocentric attitudes among the white majorities led to racial and ethnic discrimination and hate towards the minorities. As a result, people around the world began to question the safety of living in the USA amongst such political instability and nation divide.
With the havoc present in the USA, Canadian president, Justin Trudeau welcomed citizens from all over the world, regardless of their ethnic and religious identities, to the multicultural land of Canada (Majzoub, 2016). Multiculturalism has been an integral part of the Canadian society since 1988(Majzoub, 2016). As part of multiculturalism, immigrants are guaranteed freedom, reverence, equality, and safety regardless of their background (Majzoub, 2016). As opposed to America's idea of the melting pot, whereby immigrants are expected to adapt to the American culture, Canada is made up of the vertical mosaic (Peach, 2005). The vertical mosaic, allows immigrants to bring their backgrounds and cultures and encourages them to share their values and heritage with Canadian citizens to create a welcoming and homely environment for everyone (Peach, 2005). As a result, many international students like myself preferred to go to Canada as compared to the States during times of such extreme political instability.