Relational Being

• Prologue: Toward a New Enlightenment ; Part I. From Bounded to Relational Being ; 1. Bounded Being ; 2. In the Beginning is the Relationship ; 3. The Relational Self ; 4. The Body as Relationship: Emotion, Pleasure and Pain ; Part II. Relational Being in Everyday Life ; 5. Multi-being and the Adventure of Everyday Life ; 6. Bonds, Barricades, and Beyond ; Part III. Relational Being in Practice ; 7. Knowledge as Co-Creation ; 8. Education in a Relational Key ; 9. Therapy as Relational Recovery ; 10. Organizing: The Precarious Balance ; Part IV. From the Moral to the Sacred ; 11. Beyond Moral Pluralism ; 12. All Our Relations, Approaching the Sacred ; Epilogue: The Coming of Relational Consciousness ; Index

Winner of the Media Ecology Association's 2010 Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Social Interaction!Winner of the 2009 PROSE award in Psychology! More than 40 PROSE Awards, including the top prize, the R.R. Hawkins Award, were presented on February 4, 2010, at a special Awards Luncheon during the PSP Annual Conference at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. A complete list of all winners can be found on the PROSE Awards website at: http://www.proseawards.com/docs/2009-PROSE-Winners-Press-Release.doc. Presented since 1976, the 2009 PROSE Awards received a record-breaking 441 entries--more than ever before in its 34-year history-- from more than 60 professional and scholarly publishers across the country."A marvelously likeable book, Relational Being faces us with an urgent and profound challenge. Jettisoning individualism entirely, Gergen demonstrates the sense and virtue of understanding all aspects of human reality through the lens of relationship. This argument for a new Enlightenment is a brave and passionate tour de force from one of our finest social scientists."--Benjamin Bradley, Chair, Psychology and Director, CSU Degree Initiative, CharlesSturt University"Relational Being is a milestone on the road toward the Next Enlightenment-- an enlightenment that re-constructs "the bounded self" with an understanding of the primacy of relational being. There is not a "sounding" in this towering manifesto that leaves things as they are. Once we acknowledge that we are interwoven threads in the intricate tapestry of relational process-- in which our destiny is among us as opposed to within-- everything changes. Ifhuman connection can become as real to us as the traditional sense of individual separation, then our globally intimate future has a chance-- there is that much at stake in this forward-looking, pragmatic andinspirational Kenneth Gergen classic!"--David Cooperrider, Fairmount Minerals Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University"This is a powerful, richly nuanced, evocative work; a stunning and brilliantly innovative pedagogical intervention. It provides ground zero-- the starting place for the next generation of theorists. Relational Being is a stunning accomplishment by one of America's major social theorists, and a visionary work." --Norman K. Denzin, Professor of Sociology, Cinema Studies, and Interpretive Theory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign"A must-read for scholars, practitioners and the general public, this book gives promise and hope to our planet and our future well-being." --Harlene Anderson, Houston Galveston Institute"Ken Gergen, the most original and insightful social psychologist of my generation, offers a hopeful and fresh framework for scholars and practitioners seeking a meaningful, useful, and creative approach to the cultural, political, personal, and professional struggles of our time. Professor Gergen writes with grace, compassion, and clarity and the story he tells is extraordinarily important and profound." --Arthur P. Bochner, Distinguinshed University Professorof Communication, University of South Florida"...Relational Being promises to be a significant and useful contribution to psychological literature."--PsycCRITIQUES"Simply put, Gergen asks: If this is the sense of self that is afforded, then what does this mean for the lives we live, and the lives we might aspire to live? Relational Being responds to this (impossible) question. The book presents a contemporary and inspiring response to questions about being, spirituality, and the practices and relations of everyday life. Gergen's approach avoids moralistic undertones and dense theorizing to provide a simplephilosophy for everyday, postmodern life." -- International Journal of Communication