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Barbara M. Montgomery and Leslie A. Baxter (Eds.), DIALECTICAL APPROACHES TO STUDYING PER SONAL RELATIONSHIPS. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998; pp. vii + 193, $45.00 hardcover, ISBN: 0805821120; $24.50 paper, ISBN: 0805821139.
The first chapter of Montgomery and Baxter's book is entitled, "A Guide to Dialectical Approaches to Studying Personal Relationships." That is precisely the function of this book as the authors attempt to pull together the often disparate members of the "dialectical family." In the opening chapter, the authors identify similarities and differences in two important arenas: the theoretical and the methodological. First, the authors discuss four often-used dialectical concepts: contradiction, change, praxis, and totality. I appreciate the articulation of the often subtle differences in the ways these terms are used by various authors. Next, methodological stances utilized by the contributing authors are examined. These stances are dialectical empiricism, the study of narratives, the method of intertextuality, and principled eclecticism. The subsequent chapters of the book provide rich examples of each of these methodologies as the authors describe their ongoing research programs.
Richard Conville describes his examination of relational transitions through the use of a case study narrative. This analysis seeks to identify indigenous and conventional dialectics at work through the lifecourse of a personal relationship. Conville draws upon narrative as well as structural...