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TEXT COMPARISON
KEY NAMES
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Theory Key Names
11th Edition
11th Edition
Annotated list of scholars and terms, from the Instructors Manual and margin notes in the text
List mode: Normal (click on theory name to show detail) | Show All details | Clear details
Chapter 11—Relational Dialectics Theory
- Leslie Baxter
- Communication professor emeritus from the University of Iowa who champions the relational dialectics approach to close relationships.
- Mikhail Bakhtin
- A Russian intellectual who saw dialectical tension as the deep structure of all human experience. Baxter draws heavily on his work.
- Relational dialectics
- The dynamic and unceasing struggle between discourses about interpersonal relationships.
- Discourse
- Streams of talk that cohere around a given object of meaning.
- Monologue
- Dominant talk that silences competing voices.
- Dialogue
- Multiple voices; talk where unity and difference play with and against one another.
- Utterance chain
- Discourses spoken across a relationship, including words spoken before and those yet to come.
- Contradiction
- Occurs when two forces are interdependent but negate one another.
- Discursive struggles
- Two or more discourses compete for dominance over meaning.
- Internal dialectics
- Discursive struggles played out within a relationship.
- External dialectics
- Discursive struggles played out between a couple and their community.
- Integration-separation
- A set of discursive struggles regarding independence versus interdependence; freedom versus intimacy.
- Stability/change
- A set of discursive struggles regarding routine versus spontaneity; traditional versus novel.
- Expression/nonexpression
- A set of discursive struggles regarding transparency versus secrecy; privacy versus disclosure.
- Dominant discourse
- Talk that is central and prominent, with power to define meaning.
- Marginalized discourse
- Talk that is peripheral, lacking power to define meaning.
- Separation
- Voicing different discourses at different times.
- Interplay
- Voicing different discourses at the same time.
- Spiraling inversion
- Switching back and forth between two discursive struggles, voicing one and then the other.
- Segmentation
- A compartmentalization tactic by which different discourses speak to different aspects of the relationship.
- Negating
- Mentioning a marginalized discourse in order to dismiss it as unimportant.
- Countering
- Replacing an expected discourse with an alternative discourse.
- Entertaining
- Recognizing that every discourse has alternatives.
- Transforming
- Combining two or more discourses, changing them into something new.
- Aesthetic moment
- A fleeting sense of unity through a profound respect for disparate voices in dialogue.
- I-It relationship
- We treat the other person as a thing to be used; created by monologue.
- I-Thou relationship
- We regard the other person as the very one we are; created by dialogue.
- Narrow ridge
- A metaphor of the I-Thou living in the dialogic tension between ethical relativism and rigid absolutism.
- Constitutive approach
- The belief that communication creates, sustains, and alters relationships and the social world; social construction.
You can access the Key Names for a particular chapter in several ways:
- Switch to View by Theory, then select the desired theory/chapter from the drop-down list at the top of the page. Look in the list of available resources.
- To quickly find a theory by chapter number, use the Table of Contents and link from there. It will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.
- You can also use the Theory List, which will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.
Resources
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additional resources.
Read more
KEY NAMES
New to Theory
Resources?
Find out more
in this short
video overview
(3:01).
CHANGE TO View by Theory
Theory Key Names
11th Edition
11th Edition
Annotated list of scholars and terms, from the Instructors Manual and margin notes in the text
List mode: Normal (click on theory name to show detail) | Show All details | Clear details
Chapter 11—Relational Dialectics Theory
- Leslie Baxter
- Communication professor emeritus from the University of Iowa who champions the relational dialectics approach to close relationships.
- Mikhail Bakhtin
- A Russian intellectual who saw dialectical tension as the deep structure of all human experience. Baxter draws heavily on his work.
- Relational dialectics
- The dynamic and unceasing struggle between discourses about interpersonal relationships.
- Discourse
- Streams of talk that cohere around a given object of meaning.
- Monologue
- Dominant talk that silences competing voices.
- Dialogue
- Multiple voices; talk where unity and difference play with and against one another.
- Utterance chain
- Discourses spoken across a relationship, including words spoken before and those yet to come.
- Contradiction
- Occurs when two forces are interdependent but negate one another.
- Discursive struggles
- Two or more discourses compete for dominance over meaning.
- Internal dialectics
- Discursive struggles played out within a relationship.
- External dialectics
- Discursive struggles played out between a couple and their community.
- Integration-separation
- A set of discursive struggles regarding independence versus interdependence; freedom versus intimacy.
- Stability/change
- A set of discursive struggles regarding routine versus spontaneity; traditional versus novel.
- Expression/nonexpression
- A set of discursive struggles regarding transparency versus secrecy; privacy versus disclosure.
- Dominant discourse
- Talk that is central and prominent, with power to define meaning.
- Marginalized discourse
- Talk that is peripheral, lacking power to define meaning.
- Separation
- Voicing different discourses at different times.
- Interplay
- Voicing different discourses at the same time.
- Spiraling inversion
- Switching back and forth between two discursive struggles, voicing one and then the other.
- Segmentation
- A compartmentalization tactic by which different discourses speak to different aspects of the relationship.
- Negating
- Mentioning a marginalized discourse in order to dismiss it as unimportant.
- Countering
- Replacing an expected discourse with an alternative discourse.
- Entertaining
- Recognizing that every discourse has alternatives.
- Transforming
- Combining two or more discourses, changing them into something new.
- Aesthetic moment
- A fleeting sense of unity through a profound respect for disparate voices in dialogue.
- I-It relationship
- We treat the other person as a thing to be used; created by monologue.
- I-Thou relationship
- We regard the other person as the very one we are; created by dialogue.
- Narrow ridge
- A metaphor of the I-Thou living in the dialogic tension between ethical relativism and rigid absolutism.
- Constitutive approach
- The belief that communication creates, sustains, and alters relationships and the social world; social construction.
You can access the Key Names for a particular chapter in several ways:
- Switch to View by Theory, then select the desired theory/chapter from the drop-down list at the top of the page. Look in the list of available resources.
- To quickly find a theory by chapter number, use the Table of Contents and link from there. It will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.
- You can also use the Theory List, which will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.
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