COMS 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Relational Dialectics

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Communications Studies
• Course: COMS 201
• Professor: Samantha Thrift

Document Summary

Leslie baxter & william rawlins: developed and tested dialectical theory in the communication field, contradiction. Each impulse needs the contradictory one routine and novelty depend on each other for their meaning and value: process. 2nd root idea of dialectics is that of process. Bakhtin"s beliefs that change should be desired and celebrated; paradoxically, he viewed it as the only constant in human relationships. Not static balances between contradictory impulses; they are fluid relationships that continuously evolve. Relationships are never settled, never fixed once and for all. Change is a primary dynamic of intimacy one that is normal and ongoing in relational life. Viewing dialectics as process implies that they are moving somewhere. The tension between contradictory impulses is positive and productive in moving. Kathryn dinda & dan conary (1993) relationships forward: dialectical theory is distinctive in the extent to which it highlights change as the ongoing character of personal relationships. Many contradictory impulses, but limited number of basic dialectics.