JCB: Preface

When I think of a preface, I usually expect it to be lengthy, boring, and unnecessary. However, the preface in Introducing Sociology Using the Stuff of Everyday life helped me understand how to read the material presented in the text. The preface consists of two separate sections, one specifically for instructors and the other written for students of sociology. The instructor preface elaborated on how and why the book was written a certain way, explaining that using the “stuff” of everyday life was an efficient way of teaching sociology to students of all academic levels. The authors explain that usually what is seen in an introductory sociology class is a curriculum that presents sociology as a “motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable.” This sort of curriculum bores the student, preventing any form of sociological enlightenment. To engage students in the curriculum, instructors must relate sociological concepts to the stuff of everyday life, such as cars, shopping, or even makeup. By engaging in modern topics of conversation, students feel like their own experiences are valid as they realize they are experiencing sociological phenomena in their everyday lives. I have taken this course before and failed obviously, but regardless of whatever grade I might have received in the end, I valued the knowledge that I was able to take from the class. It was easy to understand sociological concepts once I realized that the lessons could be found in the world outside of the classroom. The ability to see the strange in the familiar has expanded my ability to think critically and question the world around me.