Differences that make a difference
A turn of phrase by Anthropologist Gregory Bateson inspired the title of this publication.
His 1972 “Steps to an ecology of mind” strongly influenced me when I was in graduate school. In my work researching, designing and implementing social change interventions, finding an approach, or one aspect of an approach, that has great promise or a demonstrated positive effect, has often brought the “differences that make a difference“ phrase to my mind.
Pragmatist William James has also written about difference. He believed that philosophical debate was useless if the outcome of the debate had no practical consequences. The word pragmatism is derived from the Greek word pragma, meaning action, from which emerged ‘practice’ and ‘practical.’
In James’s words:
‘There can be no difference anywhere that doesn’t make a difference elsewhere.”
This publication gathers under one umbrella essays about social change interventions where one difference, somewhere, has made a difference elsewhere. We’re focused mostly on essays about positive design or implementation differences — but the occasional failure story would also be welcome.
If you’re a researcher or practitioner working in social change interested in writing about a difference that makes a difference, (or that you hoped would make a difference, but didn’t) please get in touch and pitch us an essay.
Gratitude to co-editor Cynthia Hannah for engaging discussions and to Greg Shepherd for introducing me to the Pragmatists.
