Family Systems Theory Reconsidered: Integrating Social Construction Theory and Dialectical Process

Abstract

This paper explores the limitations and problems of family systems theory that have been discussed in recent years by feminist writers, narrative family therapists, and family system theorists who have adopted the constructionist view. Reconsiderations of family systems theory focus on the following concerns: (a) the emphasis on homeostatic processes in the family at the expense of understanding the family as a system that is continually changing, (b) the tendency to dichotomize between an individual perspective and a family systems perspective, (c) the potential for gender bias in family systems theory, (d) the challenge that social inequities and cultural diversity present for systems theorists, and (e) skepticism about the practice of defining reality and problems in the family exclusively from the privileged position of the researcher. Social construction theory and an analysis of dialectical process are discussed as providing epistemological and substantive perspectives that can be corrective of some of the constraining aspects of family systems theory. A constructionist family systems perspective would incorporate social construction and dialectical perspectives into a process model for understanding family communication which: (a) views family process as evolutionary rather than circular, (b) explores the individual-system dialectic and the presence of dilemmas and contradictions in family relationships, (c) recognizes the potential for gender and cultural bias as one theorizes about relationships and families, (d) suggests that meanings and problems do not have objective realities of their own but are linguistically constructed, and (e) views the therapist-researcher not as an objective observer but as part of the system that is being observed. This paper argues that family systems theory is not a static model but one that is continually evolving and changing. Recent conversations in the family systems theory literature suggest that we have much to gain by adopting an interpretive, narrative framework for studying communication in family systems.