Why does difference matter?

Why difference is
necessary and dangerous?
Difference word have come to the fore in
cultural studies in recent decades and been
addressed in different ways by different
discipline . the first account comes from the
linguistics from the sort of approach associated
with Saussure and the use of language as a
model of how culture works.
The main argument advanced here is the
difference matters because it’s essential to
meaning without it the meaning could not exist
for example black is contrast with its opposite
white and femininity is contrast with its
opposite masculinity . It’s the difference
between black and white ,and femininity and
masculinity which signifies, which carry
meaning.
So meaning depends on the difference between
opposites though binary opposites white/black ,
feminine/masculine ,day/night , British/alien
have a great value of capturing diversity of the
word . For example in called white and black,
there is no pure black or white only varying
shades of grey .
Derrida has argued , there are very few natural
binary opposites .one binary pole is the
dominant one . There is always a relation of
power between binary opposition Poles .we
should really write white/black, men /women,
British/alien, upper class/lower class,
masculine/feminine to capture this power
dimension .
The second explanation comes from the
theories of language . the argument here is we
need difference because we can only construct
meaning through a dialogue with the other. The
great Russian linguist and critic , Mikhail
Bakhtin studies language not as Saussure did ,
but in terms of how meaning is sustained in the
dialogue between two or more speakers which
meaning doesn’t belong to any speaker ,it arises
in the give and take between different
speakers . meaning is established through the
dialogue , everything we say is modified by
interaction and interplay with another person .
Meaning arises through the difference between
the participants in any dialogue .In short, the
other is very essential in meaning and this is the
positive side of this theory.
The negative side is the meaning can’t be fixed
and the one group can never be completely in
charge of meaning . what it means to be British
or Russian or Jamaican can’t be controlled by
British or Russians or Jamaicans but is always up
for grabs , always being negotiated ,in the
dialogue between these national culture and
their others .
The third explanation of anthropological , the
argument here is that culture depends on the
giving things meaning by assigning them to
different positions . Binary opposites are crucial
for all classification because one must establish
a clear difference between things to classify
them . For example food is divided into groups
those which are eaten raw and those eaten
cooked , you also can classified it into fruit and
vegetables .
However, it can also give rise to negative feeling
when things fail to fit any category such as
mercury which is a metal but also liquid . Stable
cultures require things stay in their appointed
place . Symbolic boundaries keep the categories
pure giving cultures their unique meaning and
identity .
The fourth kind of explanation is psychoanalytic
. The argument here is the other is fundamental
to the constitution of the self , to use as
subjects, and to sexual identity . According to
Freud our definitions of self and our sexual
identity depend on the way we are formed as
subjects .the psychoanalytic perspective
assumes there is no such thing as a given, stable
inner core to ‘the self or to identity. Psychically,
we are never fully unified as subjects. Our
subjectivities are formed through this troubled,
never-completed, unconscious dialogue with-
this internalization of-the ‘Other’.
Difference’ is ambivalent. It can be both positive
and negative. It is both necessary for the
production of meaning, the Formation of
language and culture, for social identities and a
subjective sense Of the self as a sexed subject-
and at the same time, it is threatening, a site of
Danger, of negative feelings, of splitting,
hostility and aggression towards the other