Society encompasses not just the individuals that create it, but also a variety of external

influences. A social fact is a collection of collective thoughts and mutual perceptions that
influence an individual’s behavior. Émile Durkheim (1938[1895]) defined social facts as
“A social fact is any fixed or non-fixed way of acting capable of enforcing an external
constraint on an individual: or, to put it another way, any way of acting that is
common during a given society while still existing in its title independent of its
manifestations.”
Although a social fact is thought to exist within an individual’s mind, it originates from
outward sources and is observed and communicated by several people. A way of identifying a
social fact is to violate them. When a social fact is violated, it is experienced as a sanction
because it is imposed on us and compels us to follow them.
Reference-
Herzog, S.P., (2018) Social Facts. Publisher: George Ritzer DOI:
10.1002/9781405165518.wbeoss151.pub2

Wright Mills was a contemporary sociologist who proposed the concept of sociological
imagination. Sociological imagination is a method of connecting personal issues with broader
social problems. Individuals may use sociological imagination to relate personal problems,
which Mills identifies as “biography” and large-scale problems as “history”. The aim is to
comprehend the difference between a person and societal issues. When does an individual
problem become a social problem? Unemployment is a clear example. When a single person is
unemployed, it is a personal problem; however, when thousands of people are unemployed, it
becomes a social issue. Any problem can be looked at with the concept of sociological
imagination.

Reference-
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-introtosociology/chapter/sociological-imagination/