Relational Responsibility
Resources for Sustainable Dialogue
Sheila McNamee
- University of New Hampshire, USA
Kenneth J. Gergen
- Swarthmore College, USA
Purchase
eBook
ISBN:
9781452251196
Available from
January 0001
Paperback
ISBN:
9780761910947
Available from
January 0001
Description
The tradition of individual responsibility where individuals deliberate, morally evaluate, and then decide on a course of action is dear to the heart of Western ethical and legal codes and informs many contemporary practices of therapy, education, and organizational life. It also typically isolates, alienates, and ultimately invites the eradication of the otherùa step toward non-meaning. A vast range of current thinking places this view of the independently responsible individual in strong question. In Relational Responsibility, the authors attempt to transform the concept of responsibility in such a way that the relational process replaces the individual as the central concern. This volume invites practices that replace alienation and isolation with meaning-building dialogue. It is structured in a way that demonstrates their ideas. In Part I, McNamee and Gergen examine relational responsibility followed by their analysis of a challenging case study involving the issue of child sexual abuse. Part II contains responses from scholars and practitioners from the fields of communication, psychology, therapy, and organizational development that extend the original dialogue set out by McNamee and Gergen. Part III is a rejoinder to Part II in redirecting and augmenting the original conception and practice of relational responsibility.
Relational Responsibility touches on a number of different disciplines, including communication theory, sociology, social theory, interpersonal and group communication, conflict management, and child abuse.
Contents
Preface
- Situating the Conversation
PART ONE:RELATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
- An Invitation to Relational Responsibility
- Relational Responsibility in Practice
- A Case in Point
PART TWO: EXPANDING THE DIALOGUE: RESONANCE AND REFIGURATION
- When Stories Have Wings
- How Relational Responsibility Opens New Options for Action
- Collaborative Learning Communities
- Relational Moves and Generative Dances
- On Being Relational in an Accountable Way
- The Questions of Agency and Power
- The Uncertain Path to Dialogue
- A Meditation
- Relational Responsibility
- Deconstructive Possibilities
- Relational Responsibility or Dialogic Ethics? A Questioning of McNamee and Gergen
- Responding and Relating
- Response-Ability to Individuals, Relating and Difference
- Co-Constructing Responsibility
- Inspiring Dialogues and Relational Responsibility
- Creating Relational Realities
- Responsible Responding to Poetic `Movements' and `Moments'
- Relational Inquiry and Relational Responsibility
- The Practice of Change
- A Circle of Voices
- `Just Like Max'
- Learning in Relation
- Waiting for the Author
PART THREE: CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
- Relational Responsibility
- The Converging Conversation
Description
The tradition of individual responsibility where individuals deliberate, morally evaluate, and then decide on a course of action is dear to the heart of Western ethical and legal codes and informs many contemporary practices of therapy, education, and organizational life. It also typically isolates, alienates, and ultimately invites the eradication of the otherùa step toward non-meaning. A vast range of current thinking places this view of the independently responsible individual in strong question. In Relational Responsibility, the authors attempt to transform the concept of responsibility in such a way that the relational process replaces the individual as the central concern. This volume invites practices that replace alienation and isolation with meaning-building dialogue. It is structured in a way that demonstrates their ideas. In Part I, McNamee and Gergen examine relational responsibility followed by their analysis of a challenging case study involving the issue of child sexual abuse. Part II contains responses from scholars and practitioners from the fields of communication, psychology, therapy, and organizational development that extend the original dialogue set out by McNamee and Gergen. Part III is a rejoinder to Part II in redirecting and augmenting the original conception and practice of relational responsibility.
Relational Responsibility touches on a number of different disciplines, including communication theory, sociology, social theory, interpersonal and group communication, conflict management, and child abuse.
Contents
Preface
- Situating the Conversation
PART ONE:RELATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
- An Invitation to Relational Responsibility
- Relational Responsibility in Practice
- A Case in Point
PART TWO: EXPANDING THE DIALOGUE: RESONANCE AND REFIGURATION
- When Stories Have Wings
- How Relational Responsibility Opens New Options for Action
- Collaborative Learning Communities
- Relational Moves and Generative Dances
- On Being Relational in an Accountable Way
- The Questions of Agency and Power
- The Uncertain Path to Dialogue
- A Meditation
- Relational Responsibility
- Deconstructive Possibilities
- Relational Responsibility or Dialogic Ethics? A Questioning of McNamee and Gergen
- Responding and Relating
- Response-Ability to Individuals, Relating and Difference
- Co-Constructing Responsibility
- Inspiring Dialogues and Relational Responsibility
- Creating Relational Realities
- Responsible Responding to Poetic `Movements' and `Moments'
- Relational Inquiry and Relational Responsibility
- The Practice of Change
- A Circle of Voices
- `Just Like Max'
- Learning in Relation
- Waiting for the Author
PART THREE: CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
- Relational Responsibility
- The Converging Conversation
Relational Responsibility
Resources for Sustainable Dialogue
October 1998 | 248 pages | Sage US
| Format | Published Date | ISBN | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperback | 28/02/2026 | 9780761910947 | $126.00 |
| 180 Day Ebook | 28/02/2026 | 9781452251196 | $54.00 |
| Lifetime | 28/02/2026 | 9781452251196 | $78.00 |
The tradition of individual responsibility where individuals deliberate, morally evaluate, and then decide on a course of action is dear to the heart of Western ethical and legal codes and informs many contemporary practices of therapy, education, and organizational life. It also typically isolates, alienates, and ultimately invites the eradication of the otherùa step toward non-meaning. A vast range of current thinking places this view of the independently responsible individual in strong question. In Relational Responsibility, the authors attempt to transform the concept of responsibility in such a way that the relational process replaces the individual as the central concern. This volume invites practices that replace alienation and isolation with meaning-building dialogue. It is structured in a way that demonstrates their ideas. In Part I, McNamee and Gergen examine relational responsibility followed by their analysis of a challenging case study involving the issue of child sexual abuse. Part II contains responses from scholars and practitioners from the fields of communication, psychology, therapy, and organizational development that extend the original dialogue set out by McNamee and Gergen. Part III is a rejoinder to Part II in redirecting and augmenting the original conception and practice of relational responsibility.
Relational Responsibility touches on a number of different disciplines, including communication theory, sociology, social theory, interpersonal and group communication, conflict management, and child abuse.
Table Of Contents:
- Preface
- Situating the Conversation
- PART ONE:RELATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
- An Invitation to Relational Responsibility
- Relational Responsibility in Practice
- A Case in Point
- PART TWO: EXPANDING THE DIALOGUE: RESONANCE AND REFIGURATION
- When Stories Have Wings
- How Relational Responsibility Opens New Options for Action
- Collaborative Learning Communities
- Relational Moves and Generative Dances
- On Being Relational in an Accountable Way
- The Questions of Agency and Power
- The Uncertain Path to Dialogue
- A Meditation
- Relational Responsibility
- Deconstructive Possibilities
- Relational Responsibility or Dialogic Ethics? A Questioning of McNamee and Gergen
- Responding and Relating
- Response-Ability to Individuals, Relating and Difference
- Co-Constructing Responsibility
- Inspiring Dialogues and Relational Responsibility
- Creating Relational Realities
- Responsible Responding to Poetic `Movements' and `Moments'
- Relational Inquiry and Relational Responsibility
- The Practice of Change
- A Circle of Voices
- `Just Like Max'
- Learning in Relation
- Waiting for the Author
- PART THREE: CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
- Relational Responsibility
- The Converging Conversation