ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author’s thesis is that it is virtually inevitable that the infant science of relationships will get caught in heavy crossfire between the descendants of Sir Francis Bacon and the man on the street who happens to be suffering from his second divorce. Sociologists who make social structural assumptions about the bases for social behavior have also had their doubts in recent times. Relationship theorists and researchers seem to be reluctant to make the comfortable reductionistic assumptions. In fact, much of the interest in relationships that is emerging is the result of dissatisfaction with these assumptions that continue to underlie most theory and research in the sciences, both hard and soft. In attempting to avoid a reductionistic approach to the problem of relationships, it appears that some theorists and investigators are beginning to embrace what has been termed the “systems” approach.
