JBC: Preface for Instructors

As I was reading the Preface section in the book, Introducing Sociology Using the Stuff of Everyday Life, by Josee Johnston, Kate Cairns, Shyon Baumann, there was one line that struck me the most. "...Sociological thinking is fundamentally about seeing the strange in the familiar" (xvii). This specific line made me wonder about what is normal to my culture but is a little strange to those of Americans. In the olden days, women in my culture with short or dyed hair were looked down upon. Women with long, naturally dark hair were highly praised as a proper, elegant beauty. A decade ago my mother would insist that I should keep my hair long and that I wasn't allowed to cut or dye my hair. At the time I was about 14 or 15 years old and as a teenager, I wanted to try something new. I chopped off my long silky hair. I was pretty happy about the way it turned out, I liked it. But, my mother had a different view, she was full of anger. The surprising thing was that even my relatives thought it was a terrible decision on my part. I was told that I was a bad person, a hooligan, an impure daughter. When I was younger I didn't think this was strange, to me it was normal, but as I grew older and seeing the American culture first hand. I didn't understand why it was wrong to have short hair. Now a decade pass, with the influence of the American culture, my culture had become more acceptance on not only women but also men, who decided to style their hair differently. Although women of this generation who decided to style their hair differently are accepted, women with long, naturally dark hair are still praised as an elegant beauty. To me, this is the 'strange in the familiar'.