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Theory Key Names
10th Edition

Annotated list of scholars and terms, from the Instructors Manual and margin notes in the text

List mode: Normal (click on theory name to show detail) | Show All details | Clear details

Chapter 11Relational Dialectics THeory


  • Leslie Baxter
    • Communication professor emeritus from the University of Iowa who champions the relational dialectics approach to close relationships.
  • Mikhail Bakhtin
    • A Russian intellectual who saw dialectical tension as the deep structure of all human experience.  Baxter draws heavily on his work.
  • Relational Dialectics
    • The dynamic and unceasing struggle between discourses about interpersonal relationships.
  • Discourse
    • A set of propositions that cohere around a given object of meaning.
  • Monologue
    • Dominant talk that silences competing voices.
  • Utterance chain
    • The central building blocks of meaning-making, where utterances are linked to competing discourses near and far away, already spoken and not.
  • Superaddressee
    • An utterance’s future audience, whose moral authority is beyond question.
  • Discursive struggles
    • Two or more discourses compete for dominance over meaning.
  • Internal dialectics
    • Discursive struggles played out within a relationship.
  • External dialectics
    • Discursive struggles played out between a couple and their community.
  • Integration/separation
    • A set of discursive struggles regarding independence versus interdependence; freedom versus intimacy.
  • Stability/change
    • A set of discursive struggles regarding routine versus spontaneity; traditional versus novel.
  • Expression/nonexpression
    • A set of discursive struggles regarding transparency versus secrecy; privacy versus disclosure.
  • Dominant discourse
    • Talk that is central and prominent, with power to define meaning.
  • Marginalized discourse
    • Talk that is peripheral, lacking power to define meaning.
  • Dialectical flux
    • The unpredictable, unfinalizable, indeterminate nature of personal relationships.
  • Diachronic separation
    • Voicing different discourses at different times.
  • Synchronic interplay
    • Voicing different discourses at the same time.
  • Spiraling inversion
    • Switching back and forth between two discursive struggles, voicing one and then the other.
  • Segmentation
    • A compartmentalization tactic by which different discourses speak to different aspects of the relationship.
  • Negating
    • Mentioning a marginalized discourse in order to dismiss it as unimportant.
  • Countering
    • Replacing an expected discourse with an alternative discourse.
  • Entertaining
    • Recognizing that every discourse has alternatives.
  • Transforming
    • Combining two or more discourses, changing them into something new.
  • Aesthetic moment
    • A fleeting sense of unity through a profound respect for disparate voices in dialogue.
  • Constitutive approach
    • Social construction; the belief that communication creates, sustains, and alters relationships and the social world; social construction.
  • Dialectical flux
    • The unpredictable, unfinalizable, indeterminate nature of personal relationships.
  • Sissela Bok
    • A Swedish-born philosopher and ethicist who developed the principle of veracity.
  • Critical sensibility
    • An obligation to critique dominant voices, especially those that suppress opposing discourses; a responsibility to advocate for those who are muted.
  • Consequentialist ethics
    • Judging actions solely on the basis of their beneficial or harmful outcomes.
  • Principle of veracity
    • Truthful statements are preferable to lies in the absence of special circumstances that overcome the negative weight.


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Theory Key Names
10th Edition

Annotated list of scholars and terms, from the Instructors Manual and margin notes in the text

List mode: Normal (click on theory name to show detail) | Show All details | Clear details

Chapter 11Relational Dialectics THeory


  • Leslie Baxter
    • Communication professor emeritus from the University of Iowa who champions the relational dialectics approach to close relationships.
  • Mikhail Bakhtin
    • A Russian intellectual who saw dialectical tension as the deep structure of all human experience.  Baxter draws heavily on his work.
  • Relational Dialectics
    • The dynamic and unceasing struggle between discourses about interpersonal relationships.
  • Discourse
    • A set of propositions that cohere around a given object of meaning.
  • Monologue
    • Dominant talk that silences competing voices.
  • Utterance chain
    • The central building blocks of meaning-making, where utterances are linked to competing discourses near and far away, already spoken and not.
  • Superaddressee
    • An utterance’s future audience, whose moral authority is beyond question.
  • Discursive struggles
    • Two or more discourses compete for dominance over meaning.
  • Internal dialectics
    • Discursive struggles played out within a relationship.
  • External dialectics
    • Discursive struggles played out between a couple and their community.
  • Integration/separation
    • A set of discursive struggles regarding independence versus interdependence; freedom versus intimacy.
  • Stability/change
    • A set of discursive struggles regarding routine versus spontaneity; traditional versus novel.
  • Expression/nonexpression
    • A set of discursive struggles regarding transparency versus secrecy; privacy versus disclosure.
  • Dominant discourse
    • Talk that is central and prominent, with power to define meaning.
  • Marginalized discourse
    • Talk that is peripheral, lacking power to define meaning.
  • Dialectical flux
    • The unpredictable, unfinalizable, indeterminate nature of personal relationships.
  • Diachronic separation
    • Voicing different discourses at different times.
  • Synchronic interplay
    • Voicing different discourses at the same time.
  • Spiraling inversion
    • Switching back and forth between two discursive struggles, voicing one and then the other.
  • Segmentation
    • A compartmentalization tactic by which different discourses speak to different aspects of the relationship.
  • Negating
    • Mentioning a marginalized discourse in order to dismiss it as unimportant.
  • Countering
    • Replacing an expected discourse with an alternative discourse.
  • Entertaining
    • Recognizing that every discourse has alternatives.
  • Transforming
    • Combining two or more discourses, changing them into something new.
  • Aesthetic moment
    • A fleeting sense of unity through a profound respect for disparate voices in dialogue.
  • Constitutive approach
    • Social construction; the belief that communication creates, sustains, and alters relationships and the social world; social construction.
  • Dialectical flux
    • The unpredictable, unfinalizable, indeterminate nature of personal relationships.
  • Sissela Bok
    • A Swedish-born philosopher and ethicist who developed the principle of veracity.
  • Critical sensibility
    • An obligation to critique dominant voices, especially those that suppress opposing discourses; a responsibility to advocate for those who are muted.
  • Consequentialist ethics
    • Judging actions solely on the basis of their beneficial or harmful outcomes.
  • Principle of veracity
    • Truthful statements are preferable to lies in the absence of special circumstances that overcome the negative weight.


You can access the Key Names for a particular chapter in several ways:

  • Switch to View by Theory, then select the desired theory/chapter from the drop-down list at the top of the page. Look in the list of available resources.
  • To quickly find a theory by chapter number, use the Table of Contents and link from there. It will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.
  • You can also use the Theory List, which will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.

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