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.

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 Personal Account: A Wonderful Opportunity, R.M.A 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. Fernandez7.Asian American Panethnicity, Yen Le Espiritu Personal Account: I Thought My Race Was Invisible, Sherri H. Pereira 8.Whiteness as an 'Unmarked' Cultural Category, Ruth FrankenbergWhat Is Sex? What Is Gender? 9.The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough, Anne Fausto-Sterling10.The Five Sexes Revisited, Anne Fausto-Sterling*11.The Berdache Tradition, Walter L. Williams12.Similarity and Difference: The Sociology of Gender Distinctions, Cynthia Fuches Epstein*Personal Account: He Hit Her, Tim NortonWhat Is Social Class? 13.Reading America: Preliminary Notes on Class and Culture, 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. SiddiqueWhat 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. MabryPersonal Account:Living Invisibly, Tara S. EllisonSECTION 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 Personal Account: I Am Legally Blind, Beth Omansky Gordon 22.How Long Must We Wait? Unmet Promises of Disability Law and Policy, Beth Omansky and Michael Oliver*23.Please Ask Me Who, Not `What’ I Am, Jordan Lite*24.The Accidental Asian, Eric Liu 25.The Day of Remembrance Ceremony, Lydia Minatoya*26.Diversity and Its Discontents, Arturo Madrid Personal Account: Going Home, Keeva Haynes27.Our Classroom Barrios, Patrick Welsh*28.Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication, LaRay M. Barna*Personal Account: Where Are You From? C.C 29.The Cost of Whiteness, Thandeka*30.Driving While Black: A Statistician Proves That Prejudice Still Rules the Road, John Lamberth31.A Day in the Life of Two Americas, Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown*Personal Account: Play Some Rolling Stones, Mark Donald Stockenberg 32.Of Race and Rights, Patricia Williams 33.Anti-Gay Slurs Common at School: A Lesson in Cruelty, Laura Sessions Stepp*Personal Account: A White Male Rescued Me, Meticia Watson 34.All Souls, Michael Patrick MacDonald*35.A Question of Class, Dorothy Allison Personal Account: That Moment of Visibility, Rose B. Pascarell36.At A Slaughterhouse: Some Things Never Die, Charlie LeDuff*37.Why Are Droves of Unqualified, Unprepared Kids Getting into Our Top Colleges? Because Their Dads Are Alumni, John LarewSECTION III. Framework Essay: THE MEANING OF DIFFERENCE Law, Politics, and Policy 38.Twelve 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 YoungPersonal Account: Memories of Summer Camp, Patricia Kelly42.Facing History, Facing Ourselves: Interracial Justice, Eric K. Yamamoto*Economy 43.The Possessive Investment in Whitness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics, George Lipsitz 44.Strangers Among Us: How Latino Immigration Is Transforming America, Robert Suro Personal Account: Just Like My Mama Said, Anthony McNeill45.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 Bassett47.Media Science and Sexual Ideology: The Promotion of Sexual Stability, Gilbert Zicklin Personal Account: You Can't Forget Humiliation, Amy L. Helm48.Disability Definitions: The Politics of Meaning, Michael Oliver Personal Account: Seeing Race, Seeing Disability, R.B.Popular Culture 49.Orientals, Robert E. Lee*50.Women-Becoming-Men: Voices of Kickbutt Culture, Benjamin Demott*Personal Account: Just Something You Did as a Man, Francisco Hernandez51.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 ManderPersonal 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 Personal Account: Becoming a Minority, Elizabeth Lukos57.To Be and Be Seen: The Politics of Reality, Marilyn Fry* Indicates new reading