Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable

How the words we useand don't usereinforce dominant cultural norms

Why is the term openly gay so widely used but openly straight is not? What are the unspoken assumptions behind terms like male nurse, working mom, and white trash? Taken for Granted exposes the subtly encoded ways we talk about topics like race, gender, sexuality, and social status, offering a provocative look at the word choices we make every day without even realizing it. Eviatar Zerubavel describes how the words we use provide telling clues about the things we take for granted. By marking womens history or Black History Month, we are also reinforcing the apparent normality of the history of white men. Zerubavel shows how this tacit normalizing of certain identities, practices, and ideas helps to maintain their cultural dominanceand shape what we take for granted.