by Thomas Kochman (Author)
"Goes a long way toward showing a lay audience the value, integrity, and aesthetic sensibility of black culture, and moreover the conflicts which arise when its values are treated as deviant version of majority ones."--Marjorie Harness Goodwin, American Ethnologist
Back Jacket
In this book, the author draws attention to a rarely acknowledged problem in inter-ethnic communications: A difference in means (or style) rather than ends (or goals) impedes many attempts at communications among Americans...His thesis is convincing and his demonstrations impress the reader with the range and importance of stylistic conflicts...The potential for conflict and misunderstanding which inheres in these stylistic differences has alarming implications.