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.