The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, Sexual Orientation, and Disability : a Text/reader

Renting vs. Buying This Textbook

Renting is usually cheapest if you only need the book for one term: you return it with a free prepaid label when the term ends. Buying used can beat renting when the sell-back price is high, so compare the sell-back price with the rental price before you decide. An eTextbook arrives instantly but usually expires. Rentals and used copies rarely include working access codes.

Always match the ISBN on your syllabus (9780078111648) before you order; different editions have different ISBNs.

About This Book

The Meaning of Difference focuses on the social construction of difference as it operates in American formulations of race and ethnicity, sex and gender, social class, sexual orientation, and disability. The conceptual structure of this text-reader comes from four framework essays that addressing the construction of difference, the experience of difference, the social meaning of difference, and social actions that might bridge differences. Each framework essay is followed by a set of readings selected for readability, conceptual depth, and applicability to a variety of statuses. Boxed inserts throughout offer first-person accounts, many of them from students. The readings in this edition, which include twenty-four new readings and ten new personal accounts, have been selected to speak to contemporary assumptions of a “post-racial” America.