INTRODUCING CAUSALITY AND POWER INTO FAMILY THERAPY THEORY: A CORRECTION TO THE SYSTEMIC PARADIGM

This paper proposes that concepts of causality and power are compatible with a systemic paradigm based on the cybernetics of Ashby, rather than that of Bateson. The repudiation of causality and power by Bateson and his adherents is criticized; the related Batesonian biases against "quantity" and "logic" are also addressed. Batesonian arguments against causality are examined in reference to philosophical theories of causation. Relevant aspects of Ashby's cybernetic theory are contrasted with the Batesonian position. Some implications of a systemic paradigm which incorporates concepts of causality and power are drawn.     

Cut the Crap: Language — Risks and Relationships in Systemic Therapy and Supervision

This article concerns the use of language in both therapy and supervision, and how it contributes to the necessary risk‐taking that will be a part of therapists' and supervisors' repertoires. The focus will be on my own examples in both roles, and will refer to both successes and failures, while questioning the usefulness of either concept. Within a postmodern paradigm, and influenced by thinkers including Foucault and Bakhtin as well as systemic clinicians, I will examine the use of language (including in cross‐cultural settings where risks can sometimes be amplified) and of humour and self while exploring the meanings of identity. I contend that all relationships contain some element of risk and the ways in which we create a safe enough context, through the uses of language as well as nonlinguistic means, are the crucial elements in our endeavours as supervisors and therapists. I favour the idea that therapy is more of an art than a science and that this is most exemplified in the graceful use of language by which we strive to engage rather than alienate people. The article may be considered by some as being useful advice, and by others as a risk too far, such is the controversial nature of language, which highlights the importance of relationships and context.     

Defining the psychomedical and systemic paradigms in marital and family therapy

A framework for defining paradigms within the field of marital and family therapy is presented. The term "paradigm" is critically analyzed as applied to mental health services. Paradigm crisis in marital and family therapy is described as resulting primarily from practical-theoretical, professional, andpolitical concerns rather than scientific anomaly. Subsequently, two paradigms are defined as related to marital and family therapy: the psychomedical and the social systems (systemic) paradigms. Both paradigms are defined according to basic propositions and methodological tenets. The need for, and the design of, critical paradigmatic experiments of the psychomedical paradigm against the systemic paradigm are addressed. Critical paradigmatic experiments are viewed as an offshoot of a postpositivistic empiricism in keeping with a contextual view of knowledge.     

The relevance of Kuhn's model of science to discipline development in sociology «1»

Thomas Kuhn's model of scientific development during the last two decades is reviewed critically in light of its increasing popularity in the sociology of sociology literature. This model, along with recent criticisms and rebuttals by Kuhn, is described, and the circularity of this position as a basis for paradigm development is noted. Several problems are identified for contemporary sociology. We conclude that Kuhn's model can not be used as a strategy for generating a scientific paradigm for the discipline of sociology and, at best, Kuhn's work serves only as a heuristic device for discipline analysis.     

Intersectional Identities: Influences of Religion,Race, and Gender on the Intimate Relationships of Single Singaporean Malay-Muslim Women

Studies on rising singlehood in Asia have largely focused on the economic dimension. This article widens that lens by examining how religious beliefs influence single Singaporean women’s views toward marriage. Applying the intersectional paradigm expands our understanding of how religion maintains or challenges cultural norms as well as gendered and racial meanings. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 27 unmarried Malay-Muslim Singaporean women, it argues that instead of conceptualizing religion as a barrier that hinders the formation of intimate relationships, we can better understand its role in terms of how single Malay-Muslim women appropriate it to negotiate cultural constraints that limit their ability to tie the knot. The research bears important implications on how cultural and religious forces affect marriage patterns in multicultural and multireligious societies.     

The influence of the Milan approach—Part 2. The legacy of Boscolo and Cecchin and their Paduan connection: A conversation with Andrea Mosconi

The Milan approach, pioneered by Selvini-Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, and Prata, has significantly contributed to the field of psychotherapy, particularly in the realm of systemic and family psychotherapy. While rooted in systemic principles and concepts, over time the original Milan group demonstrated differences in their clinical orientations and practices which led to their regrouping into two teams. The paper explores the divergences in their views and directions on family dynamics and the role of symptoms within the system. It delves into the influence of Boscolo and Cecchin, two of the ‘Milan Four’ on the Centro Padovano di Terapia della Famiglia. Drawing from a conversation with Andrea Mosconi, a mentee and collaborator of Boscolo and Cecchin, the paper examines the reconfiguration of the original ‘Milan Four’ team and its impact on their clinical approach. Key Milan principles and concepts such as hypothesising, circularity, and neutrality are examined with particular emphasis on the work of Boscolo and Cecchin's systemic work. These principles, intertwined and interconnected, provide a fertile ground for the construction of multiple hypotheses and circular questioning. The paper also highlights the concept of reflexivity, which originates from Bateson's work and plays a crucial role in family relations and communication while explaining the birthplace of paradox taking place when two levels of meaning are ‘confused.’ The Milan approach continues to be highly regarded, as its early concepts and ideas have evolved and left a lasting impact on the field of family therapy. By reflecting on the distinct contributions of Boscolo and Cecchin, and using examples, Mosconi offers valuable insights into the rich legacy and ongoing relevance of the Milan approach to contemporary therapeutic practice.     

Living with uncertainty: disappearing modernities and polluted urbanity in post‐2000 Harare,Zimbabwe

Most studies of Zimbabwean migration and the country’s politico‐economic crisis focus on the material aspects of these two issues. In this article, through dual‐sited ethnographic work, I illustrate the symbolisms and meanings that are entangled within political and economic decline in urban Zimbabwe. Using data from fieldwork in Zimbabwe and South Africa, I argue that ‘crisis’ has carried with it a re‐configuration of the meanings associated with urbanity. This leads to a contradiction between how the state and citizens view ‘proper’ modernity. In combination with political factors, the state’s attempts to maintain modernity have led to a paradigm of pollution being associated with poor urbanites. This symbolism and its correspondent reality were found to have influenced the migration of informants in South Africa. It is thus not only economic and political relations that are at stake in present‐day Zimbabwe.     

The Psychology of Working in Practice: A Theory of Change for a New Era

This article advances the psychology of working theory by developing a parallel change‐based paradigm to guide interventions at the level of individuals (i.e., the psychology of working counseling) and systems (i.e., the psychology of working systemic intervention). The change paradigm presented in this article includes (a) a needs assessment encompassing survival, social connection/contribution, and self‐determination and (b) input on the mobilization of agentic action that includes critical reflection and action, proactive engagement, social support, and community engagement. The needs assessment and agentic action aspects of this approach can be used to foster change in individual counseling, advocacy, and systemic intervention. Case examples reflecting a systemic intervention and an individual counseling vignette are presented along with implications for research, such as explorations of the impact of these change models on client outcomes and systemic change efforts.     

Occupational Identity in Administrative Service Work: The Aspect of Carefulness

This article explores ‘carefulness’ as a salient aspect of occupational identity in two administrative service occupations. Drawing on empirical data obtained through interviews with medical secretaries and post‐office cashiers, and on a theoretical perspective sensitive to different bases of identification and classification, the meanings and ambiguities of carefulness are discussed in a wider context of gender, modernity and office work. The empirical material indicates that the theme of carefulness is closely connected to issues of competence and power. It is the author's argument that a closer focus on competence‐related themes and concepts central to working individuals themselves, combined with an occupational identity approach that takes modernity as well as gender into consideration, will contribute to a better understanding of the contested realities of administrative service work.     

Neurocognitive differences,self cohesion,and incoherent self narratives

This paper attempts to develop a framework through which the concepts of neurocognitive delays or deficits (generally referred to as learning disabilities) may be integrated into psychodynamic theory. The impact of these delays or deficits on the developmental dialogue is discussed. The child who suffers from such delays or deficits experiences the world in a unique way forming representations that encode personal meanings. These meanings are integrated into self narratives that have elements of incoherence in them. The incoherences in the self narratives result in the absence of self cohesion.Faculty, Continuing Education and Certificate Program, Smith College School for Social Work; in private practice.     

Facts Of The Moment: The Study Of News*

Reviewing past research on news and mass media, this article charges it is “administrative” research which accepts the presuppositions of the media being studied, particularly their emphasis on “facts” as discrete and objective phenomena. It also suggests that there are epistemological problems implicit in such concepts as “bias” and “refraction” used in gate-keeping studies. The article offers an alternative paradigm, described as “serious work on the sociology of knowledge as a junction with the sociologies of organizations and occupations and professions.” Some studies using that paradigm are described.     

Outline of the conceptual evolution of the CEFYP*

This article presents a historical journey through the concepts developed (i.e., worked, modified, and made more complex) over four decades in the existence of one of the first family therapy institutions in Argentina: the CEFYP. This journey travels from its beginnings, in the midst of the military dictatorship, to the present. The concepts will be introduced and discussed taking into account those concepts that emerged and stood out as we worked therapeutically, enriching our clinic in each new paradigm. We will start from the CEFYP's emergence within the socio-political framework of Argentina in the 1970s, its constitution as differentiated from the prevailing psychoanalytic context within the field of psychotherapies, and its evolution, an evolution that was always attentive to the particular questions that accompanied its relational approach. These questions, which intersected philosophy, anthropology, art, and critical history, will express the position of the CEFYP in relation to change, history, power, dialogue, and the therapist and their place in the process of change. Finally, it will also discuss the CEFYP's way of thinking and developing the teaching and training of relational systemic therapists. This article will also present the most outstanding clinical themes, exemplified with the use of vignettes. Among others, these include our trajectories in the clinic of violence and partner violence, the clinic in destructive divorces, and the clinic with seriously disturbed families.     

MEANING,DISCREPANCY, AND SATISFACTION IN THE NURSE ROLE

What it means to be a nurse has changed over time. This article explores the changing meanings for the nurse role in a sample of Bachelor of Science nursing students by analyzing 30 nurse role attributes documented in the nursing literature. Students' perceptions of obligatory and self-in-role meanings are assessed, and multiple role meaning dimensions are identified. Identity-discrepancy theory is used to determine whether discrepancies between obligatory and self-in-role meanings are related to role satisfaction. Findings suggest that discrepancies in some nurse role meaning dimensions are predictive of role satisfaction. The implications for role exit and the nursing shortage are discussed.     

Sex/Gender: Which Is Which? A Rejoinder to Mary Riege Laner

This article is a challenge to Mary Riege Laner's exhortation to "Let sex be sex and let gender be gender" as expressed recently in the pages of Sociological Inquiry (Laner 2000, p. 471). I examine the theoretical and linguistic underpinnings of such a view, critique the sex/gender distinction on which it is based, and endorse the maneuvers of a number of poststructuralist thinkers who have sought to problematize that very distinction. I argue instead that the classic sex/gender distinction of second-wave feminism goes wrong on (at least) three counts: (1) it is ahistorical in an area where historical specificity matters; (2) it rests on a simplistic and untenable account of language; (3) the conceptual dichotomy it posits—demarcating gender from sex—is not sustainable and cannot withstand close scrutiny. Finally, I question whether the import of the poststructuralist critique necessitates a move to epistemological and ethical relativism in the field of sex/gender studies.
When language games change then there is a change of concepts, and with the concepts the meanings of words change. (Wittgenstein 1969, § 65)     

Time, Place and Competence: Society and History in the Writings of Robert Edgerton

This is an article by an historian about the work of an American anthropologist and social scientist who has for many years observed, recorded and participated in the lives of the mentally handicapped. It had its origins in a dissatisfaction with existing histories of retardation and a desire to seek out twentieth century sociological perspectives with relevance to and resonances for earlier periods.

The paper falls into three sections. The first describes and analyses the polarity-social competence and incompetence within given cultures-which is central to Edgerton's conception of what he terms 'socio-cultural retardation'. This is followed by an evaluation of The Cloak of Competence [1], which concentrates on the interactions between deinstitutionalisation, stigma and passing for normal. A concluding section returns, by means of an examination of the validity of the notion of a 'retarded community', to a final interrogation of the causes as well as the meanings and contradictions implicit in 'socio-cultural retardation'. Attention is also briefly given to the ways in which historians, and explicitly historical methodologies, can contribute to further research within the general paradigm which Edgerton has pioneered.     

Is There a Place for Biopsychosocial Formulation in a Systemic Practice?

There is a long history of literature concerning integrative practice and how a systemic practice can fit with other models of therapy Much of this literature has focused on establishing a space for systemic therapy within the dominant medical paradigm, and exploring how the medical model can be enhanced by systemic ideas. The outcome has been better practice, especially in child and adolescent mental health. Interestingly, however, there has been less discussion of the converse: the family therapy literature has rarely considered whether or not systemic practice itself can be enhanced by ideas from the dominant medical model. This article proposes that a biopsychosocial formulation can enhance systemic practice by: (I) holding clinicians accountable for their thinking; (2) facilitating a rigour and attention to detail that may prove useful when therapy falters; (3) opening up other possibilities for intervention; and (4) providing a way to engage with the dominant medical paradigm and support clients in negotiating their way through this system. Potential problems nevertheless arise when integrating a biopsychosocial formulation into a systemic framework. This article identifies these problems and presents ideas for how they can be managed in practice.     

Between the Social and the Personal: Israeli Male Gay Parents,Surrogacy and Socio-Political Concepts of Parenthood and Gender

This work focuses on the effects of dominant concepts of parenthood and gender on gay men who became parents through surrogacy. Based on the analysis of 39 in-depth, semistructured interviews with gay fathers, we show that gay fathers' parenting experiences are shaped by the heteronormative discourse on parenthood, yet they resist its gendered attributes. Gay parenthood is revealed as confronting the social concepts on parenthood, in particular on motherhood, and their socio-political meanings. The tension between the social concepts and the participants' perceptionsy leads them to confront their social environment and to construct alternative discourse to the social discourse of parenthood and gender, suggesting that gay parenthood subverts under existing concepts of parenthood, gender and their meanings within the state.     

The practice of systemic reflexivity

What does it mean to practise systemic reflexivity? Much has been written on reflective practice but less is known of the practice of systemic reflexivity. This paper is a contribution towards expanding on what is known of the practice of systemic reflexivity. In this endeavour, a contextualising narrative of how ideas of the practice of systemic reflexivity merged within the systemic field is followed by an exploration of reflective practice and systemic reflexivity, using McGilchrist’s approach of interpersonal neuroscience. The purpose is to demonstrate how the two concepts of reflective practice and systemic reflexivity combined could enhance social work practice. However, this is not to deny the current literature that we have on reflection and reflexivity, but there is a need to continue creating space to widen dialogue in this area as a way of keeping the ideas alive and generating alternative ways of working with the two concepts.     

The Milan Principles of Hypothesising,Circularity and Neutrality in Dialogical Family Therapy: Extinction,Evolution, Eviction… or Emergence?

The primary aim of the three Milan principles of hypothesising, circularity and neutrality was to proffer an effective methodology for interviewing families, with a secondary aim of casting off the stereotypical personal therapist qualities such as intuition, charisma and concern. The progression of the principles from the original Milan model through to contemporary approaches is intriguing. The following article consists of two sections. First it tracks the progression of the three principles through the Milan, post‐Milan and postmodern approaches to family therapy. Given their recursive nature, they are revealed as responsive to developments in theory and practice, as well as the influence of the wider societal context. The second section of the article explores hypothesising, circularity and neutrality in the contemporary approach of dialogical family therapy. The relevance of the three principles to the therapeutic process, the therapeutic role and the therapeutic relationship is considered. Such an exploration does not seek definitive answers or ‘truths’, but seeks to conceptualise a vague ‘knowing’ that there is continual learning and growth in grappling with the tensions in this field, in remaining ever curious, in asking the questions …