ABSTRACT
The politics of difference promotes a notion of group solidarity against the individualism of liberal humanism. The women's movement has generated its own versions of a politics of difference. The politics of difference is certainly not against coalition, nor does it hold that, for example, white should not work against racial injustice or men against sexist injustice. The politics of difference insists on liberation of the whole group of Blacks, women, American Indians, and that this can be accomplished only through basic institutional changes. Both liberal humanist and leftist political organizations and movements have found it difficult to accept this principle of group autonomy. In a humanist emancipatory politics, if a group is subject to injustice, then all those interested in a just society should unite to combat the powers that perpetuate that injustice. Many Spanish-speaking Americans have rejected the traditional assumption that full participation in American society requires linguistic and cultural assimilation.
