SSIR Special Feature

The Stanford Social Innovation Review is featuring a portion of Dr. Wertheim’s book The Inclusive Language Field Guide

Begin the featured excerpt below, or access the entire selection here

In some respects, 21st-century etiquette is like older versions, but with one major update:

It is now expected that we will take into consideration people whose perspectives have historically been ignored, erased, or dismissed as less important.

Analyzing language patterns allows us to see unpleasant distortions that can be hidden in seemingly innocuous words and phrases.

I’ve distilled decades of research on human communication into six basic behavioral principles that can be used to guide all of our speech and writing.

The following excerpt is taken from the chapter examining the third principle, on how to “draw people in.”

This chapter looks at a few ways that our language can inappropriately decenter and marginalizes people.

Finish the full excerpt here.