Relating: Dialogues and Dialectics - Softcover

Baxter, Leslie A.; Montgomery, Barbara M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1572301015 ISBN 13: 9781572301016

Publisher: The Guilford Press, 1996

Synopsis

This book draws on the dialogism of social theorist Mikhail Bakhtin to develop a new approach which the authors term "relational dialectics" to the study of interpersonal communication. Emphasizing a social self instead of a sovereign self, multivocal oppositions instead of binary contradictions, and indeterminate change instead of transcendent synthesis, chapters examine and critique prevailing approaches to interpersonal communication. Building on these theoretical foundations, the volume rethinks such key areas as relationship development, closeness, certainty, openness, communication competence, and the boundaries between self, relationship, and society, and raises intriguing questions for future research.

About this title

About the Author

Leslie A. Baxter, Ph.D., University of Iowa

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I. A Relational Dialectics Perspective
1. Thinking Dialectically About Communication in Personal Relationships
2. Dialectical Voices: Ours and Others'
II. Rethinking Communication in Personal Relationships
3. Rethinking Relationship Development
4. Rethinking Closeness
5. Rethinking Certainty
6. Rethinking the Open Self
III. Understanding Complex Dialectical Dialogues
7. The Complex Interplay of Selves, Relationships, and Cultures
8. Understanding Interactional Competence in Relationships
9. Dialogic Inquiry and the Study of Relational Dialectics
10. Some Final (But Unfinalizable) Dialogues

Edition details

• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1572301015
• ISBN 13: 9781572301016
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 285