ABSTRACT
This chapter examines social difference in relation to assessment and argues that major social divisions should be taken seriously. However, the problem is how to do this when the theory is contentious and practice is even more so. It is essential to try to encompass the infinite variability of social differences at the individual level, and to try to grasp the broader-structured, changing relationships at group and societal levels. The chapter also examines problems of differing perspectives, concepts and values, and some of the strategies that have been proposed for coping theoretically and in practice. It discusses briefly each of the major social divisions and their internal divisions, their inter-relationships, similarities and differences, and considers some of the implications for research and assessment of social differences in micro-social situations. Some contemporary feminists and some black writers are critical of aspects of postmodernism’s origins and potential in relation to social difference.
