ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on a particular conceptual framework which has thrown light on the complexity of the psychoanalytic picture of family life, in preference to the sociological. The emphasis will be on the internal dynamics which inform, and importantly determine, the quality of family relationships. These are dynamics which stem from the predominant emotional functions performed by the person, or persons, who carry the main parental responsibilities. Such functions include "generating love; promulgating hate; promoting hope; sowing despair; containing depressive pain; emanating persecutory anxiety; thinking; creating lies and confusion". A general account of family dynamics may offer a more specific set of links between emotional functions and learning modes. An individual enters the institution of the family by birth. Families in which social position and "getting-on" are over-valued often gain a considerable measure of economic and social success. But there may be hidden personal costs to the children.
