Chang Change In Relational Dialectics

Relational Dialectics was originally proposed by Leslie A. Baxter and W.K. Rawlins but Leslie edited the theory with Barbara M. Montgomery. It is an interpersonal communication theory about close personal ties and relationships that highlights the tensions, struggles, and interaction between opposing tendencies (Baxter and Montgomery, 1998). Baxter and Montgomery elaborated on Mikhail Bakhtin’s idea that life is an open monologue and that individuals experience discourse between opposing desires and needs within relational communications (Baxter and Montgomery, 1998). According to Baxter (1998), relationships are constantly changing and require constant attention to become successful. In Relational Dialectics there are four elements that are acted upon.
Baxter and Montgomery (1998) referenced Conville saying, “According to Conville, relationships spiral through four phases of relational transition based on these two metadialectics of change: security to disintegration, disintegration to alienation, alienation to resynthesis, and resynthesis to security” (pg. 7). Praxis is when a person is a member of a relationship and they are acted upon. Baxter and Montgomery (1998) further explain as “A focus on praxis obligate dialectical researchers to address temporality: past, present, and future are inextricably linked…” (pg. 9). Totality is referred to as “the inseparability of contradictions; one contradiction cannot be considered in isolation of other contradictions with which it is integrally linked” (Baxter and Montgomery, 1998, pg. 10-11). Contradictions are when two opposing poles exist and they allow dialectical tensions to exist. For example, connection and autonomy is the desire to be with one person and connect yet remain apart to have control over one’s own