THE RELATIONSHIP OF ALIENATION AND DEPENDENCE: A SYNTHESIS OF EXISTENTIAL AND SYSTEMS THEORY (SOCIAL SYSTEMS THEORY)

                         HILL, GREGORY F.; PHD

                         THE FIELDING INSTITUTE, 1993
 
                         SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT (0700); PSYCHOLOGY, GENERAL (0621);  EDUCATION, GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING (0519); PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL (0451); SOCIOLOGY,
THEORY AND METHODS (0344)
 

                         This work attempts an unlikely synthesis to explore a seemingly contradictory relationship. The isolating
                         experience of alienation and the attachment of dependence seem contradictory. However, they are
                         deeply enmeshed in social systems that demand dependence and deny open participation. Persons in
                         such systems experience double-binds that promote alienation, feelings of inadequacy, and inauthentic
                         existence. The existential paradigm with its focus on individual inner experience seems contradictory to
                         the interactive holism of the systems paradigm. Yet it is ideal for studying the alienation-dependence
                         relationship because of its attention to alienation and choice in the face of dilemma and crisis; also its
                         image of progression from dependence to autonomy in many ways reflects American dominant culture's
                         linear vision of movement from dependence to individualism and free choice. The systems paradigm
                         emphasizes the influence of interactive relationships upon participants, systems, and environment. It too
                         is ideal for exploring the alienation-dependence relationship as it attends to complex human interactions
                         and allows exploration of behaviors, attitudes, and world views that create double-binds, block open
                         participation, and promote alienation and dependence. This dissertation explores the
                         alienation-dependence relationship by identifying forces that foster it, and by viewing it through a
                         synthesis of existential and systems theories; though this synthesis is applied primarily to individual and
                         family systems, its application to larger systems is suggested as well. This approach offers clarity to the
                         alienation-dependence relationship and aids in countering its effects in therapeutic, rehabilitative, and
                         organizational processes and in the design of human systems across multiple levels of interaction.
 


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