We can say that difference is a social construction that has been used to classify human beings into separate value-based categories. A number of interconnected issues are associated with this definition: Difference is connected to power; that is, those in power construct differences that create systems of enfranchisement and disenfranchisement. In this sense, differences are not benign or neutral in their effects.

Related, difference contrasts with and complements what is defined as normal. Difference is communicatively constructed. Differences are not naturally occurring; they are social constructions that get normalized and institutionalized in organizations. Such institutionalization serves the interests of the dominant group, who will often go to great lengths to preserve that dominance if it appears under threat by anyone regarded as different.

Historically, dominant groups have organized in both formal and informal ways to marginalize difference. It’s important to think about difference intersectionally. That is, we should view differences not as existing independently but as combining together to create particular effects and structures of power. Second, it is important to understand that differences are not individual traits; rather, they are embedded in institutions and organizations, creating what feminist scholar Joan Acker (2006) refers to as inequality regimes.