ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book attempts to continue the pioneering approach by examining the cross-fertilization of ideas that can result from an integration of systemic theory, personal construct theory, and the rapidly expanding and influential work on the analysis of conversations and narratives. These combine to offer a view of people as active, autonomous makers of narratives who, through intimate exchanges with others, evolve systems of interacting stories. The book offers an integration of the constructivist ideas with systemic perspectives, especially strategic approaches. It explains the analysis by embracing ideas from social constructionism to consider the wider sources of influence on the beliefs and explanations that constitute the stories that shape family life. The book considers the important issue of power and the problems that may result due to internalization of societally constructed inequalities of power and related distortions of ideas and experiences.
