Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity, Third Edition

Allen’s book has motivated thousands of individuals in university classes/ programs and a variety of other organizations. She offers life-changing guidance in harnessing the potential of diverse perspectives—whether to improve interpersonal relationships and workplace communication or to build a more just society. Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity invites and induces readers to value and appreciate difference. Allen covers complex and sensitive topics with an ease that inspires others to approach potentially threatening situations with an open mind and heart. Her frank discussions of the effects of dominant belief systems on her own behaviors encourage and reassure the audience to engage in self-reflection.

Difference matters to everyone. Establishing meaningful dialogue begins with curiosity about differing perspectives, empathy for others, and cultural humility. Allen addresses the uncertainty and anxiety too often connected with difference, advises mindfulness to reveal the hidden associations connected with stereotypes, and urges proactivity to challenge and change mainstream meanings of difference. She also provides tools and techniques to help readers apply lessons learned.