What was the main topic that both William L. Shirer and Noam Chomsky write about?
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky ( ; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics," Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is the author of over 100 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. He holds a joint appointment as Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and laureate professor at the University of Arizona.
Difference theory Difference theory has roots in the studies of John Gumperz, who examined the differences in cross-cultural communication. While difference theory deals with cross-gender communication, the male and female genders are often presented as being two separate cultures, hence the relevance of Gumperz's studies. In her development on the difference theory Deborah Tannen in particular drew on the work of Daniel Maltz and Ruth Borker and their 1982 paper "A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication", which itself drew on the work of Gumperz. Mary Talbot makes reference to the term "gender-specific culture" in her critique of the difference theory, and this idea of genders being culturally separated is embodied by the 1992 publication "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus". Difference theory is often compared with dominance theory and deficit theory, and together with the more contemporary dynamic theory they make up four of the theories most widely referred to and compared in the study of language and gender.