Travis, Toni-Michelle C. : George Mason University
Summary
The Meaning of Difference, is a combined text-reader about the social construction of difference as that operates
in American formulations of race, sex and gender, social class, and sexual orientation. It is premised on the conviction
that similar processes are operating when we see difference of color, gender, class, and sexuality and that these
processes likely also apply to other master statuses such as disability, ethnicity, or national-origin. Three framework
essays provide the conceptual structure for the book. Each framework essay is followed by a set of readings that
illustrate the concepts developed in the essays. Readings have been selected because they offer analyses that are
generalizable to a variety of statuses.
New to This Edition :
Twenty five readings are new to this edition and 9 more readings than in the previous edition, including coverage
of the 2000 Census, more attention to the topic of disability and an entirely new section on social class.
Increased attention to disability in the readings and framework essays, and coverage of a key Supreme Court
disability rights case.
Features :
The text-reader is divided into three parts, (1) Constructing Categories of Difference; (2) Experiencing Difference;
and (3) The Meaning of Difference, each part opening with a Framework Essay in which the authors provide a conceptual
framework for analyzing the subsequent readings.
Provides an integrated analysis of race, sex and gender, social class, and sexual orientation, with equal attention
given to each topic, and provides an analysis that can be extended to other master statuses.
Boxed inserts throughout the book offer first-person accounts from �real� people, many of them students themselves,
to make the material more meaningful for students.
Includes a chapter providing an accessible discussion of important Supreme Court cases affecting the rights
of those in race, sex, social class, sexual orientation, language, and disability categories. Chapter identifies
the key issues in each court case to maximize students� understanding.
Table of Contents
SECTION I. Framework Essay: CONSTRUCTING CATEGORIES OF DIFFERENCE
What is Race?
1. Who is Black? One Nation's Definition, F. James Davis
2. Race, Censuses, and Citizenship, Melissa Nobles*
3. The Evolution of Identity, Washington Post Federal Page*
4. Census 2000: Seventeen questions from the long form*
5. Federal Indian Identification Policy, M. Annette Jaimes
6. La Raza and the Melting Pot: A Comparative Look at Multiethnicity, Carlos A. Fernandez
7. Asian American Panethnicity, Yen Le Espiritu
8. Whiteness as an 'Unmarked' Cultural Category, Ruth Frankenberg
Personal Account: A Wonderful Opportunity, R.M.A
Personal Account: I Thought My Race Was Invisible, Sherri H. Pereira
What is Sex? What is Gender?
9. The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough, Anne Fausto-Sterling
10. The Five Sexes Revisited, Anne Fausto-Sterling*
11. The Berdache Tradition, Walter L. Williams
12. Similarity and Difference: The Sociology of Gender Distinctions, Cynthia Fuches Epstein*
Personal Account: He Hit Her, Tim Norton
What is Social Class?
13. Identities: The Hidden Life of Class, Sherry B. Ortner*
14. Why is Class Important? Michael Zweig*
15. Getting Ahead: Economic and Social Mobility in America, Daniel McMurrer and Isabel Sawhill*
Personal Account: I Am a Pakistani Woman, Hoorie I. Siddique
What is Sexual Orientation?
16. The Invention of Heterosexuality, Jonathan Ned Katz
17. Homosexuality: A Social Phenomenon, Barbara Sherman Heyl
18. The Development of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identities, Heidi Levine & Nancy J. Evans
Personal Account: An Opportunity to Get Even, Carol A. Mabry
SECTION II. Framework Essay: EXPERIENCING DIFFERENCE 19. What Are You? Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto
20. Oppression, Marilyn Frye
21. 'Can You See the Rainbow?' The Roots of Denial, Sally French
22. Mike Oliver and Beth Omansky û The Disability Experience (tentative title)*
23. Please Ask Me Who, Not æWhatÆ I am, Jordan Lite*
24. The Accidental Asian, Eric Liu
25. The Day of Remembrance Ceremony, Lydia Minatoya*
26. Missing People and Others: Joining Together to Expand the Circle, Arturo Madrid
27. Our Classroom Barrios, Patrick Welsh*
28. Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication, LaRay M. Barna*
29. The Cost of Whiteness, Thandeka*
30. Driving While Black: A Statistician Proves That Prejudice Still Rules the Road, John Lamberth
31. A Day in the Life of Two Americas, Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown*
32. Of Race and Rights, Patricia Williams
33. A Lesson in Cruelty: Anti-Gay Slurs Common at School, Laura Sessions Stepp*
34. All Souls, Michael Patrick Macdonald*
35. A Question of Class, Dorothy Allison
36. Slaughterhouse Rules, Charlie LeDuff*
37. Why Are Droves of Unqualified, Unprepared Kids Getting into Our Top Colleges? Because Their Dads are Alumni,
John Larew
Personal Account: I am Legally Blind, Beth Omansky Gordon
Personal Account: Going Home, Keeva Haynes
Personal Account: Where Are You From? C.C
Personal Account: Play Some Rolling Stones, Mark Donald Stockenberg
Personal Account: A White Male Rescued Me, Meticia Watson
Personal Account: That Moment of Visibility, Rose B. Pascarell
SECTION III. Framework Essay: THE MEANING OF DIFFERENCE Law, Politics, and Policy 38. Key Supreme Court Cases
39. Group Rights: Reconciling Equality and Difference, David Ingram*
40. The Shape of the River: The Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions,
William G. Bowen and Derek Bok
41. Social Movements and the Politics of Difference, Cheryl Zarlenga Kerchis and Iris Marion Young
42. Facing History, Facing Ourselves: Interracial Justice, Eric K. Yamamoto*
Personal Account: Memories of Summer Camp, Patricia Kelly
Economy
43. How White People Profit from Identity Politics, George Lipsitz
44. Strangers Among Us: How Latino Immigration is Transforming America, Robert Suro
45. Sex, Race, and Ethnic Inequality in United States Work Places, Barbara F. Reskin and Irene Padavic*
Science
46. The Health of Black Folk: Disease, Class, and Ideology in Science, Nancy Kreiger and Mary Bassett
47. Media Science and Sexual Ideology: The Promotion of Sexual Stability, Gilbert Zicklin
48. Disability Definitions: The Politics of Meaning, Michael Oliver
Personal Account: You Can't Forget Humiliation, Amy L. Helm
Personal Account: Seeing Race, Seeing Disability, R.B.
Popular Culture
49. Orientals, Robert E. Lee*
50. Women-Becoming-Men, Benjamin Demott*
51. Toward a Poetics of the Disabled Body, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson*
52. Both Sides Come Out Fighting: The Argument Culture and the Press, Deborah Tannen*
53. What Americans Don't Know About Indians, Jerry Mander
Personal Account: Just Something You Did as a Man, Francisco Hernandez
Personal Account: "Basketball," Andrea M. Busch
Language
54. Language Policy and Identity Politics, Ronald Schmidt Sr. *
55. Racism in the English Language, Robert B. Moore
56. Gender Stereotyping in the English Language, Laurel Richardson
57. To Be and Be Seen: The Politics of Reality, Marilyn Fry
Personal Account: Becoming a Minority, Elizabeth Lukos
* Indicates new reading
