ABSTRACT
This chapter explains five enduring family therapy concepts that guide contextual therapy: interpersonal consequences, balance of fairness, entitlement, intergenerational loyalty, and multidirected partiality. It shows how to apply them from a socioculturally attuned perspective and illustrate with a case. Multidirected partiality is at the heart of what contextual therapists do. Therapists demonstrate empathy to everyone while highlighting issues of relational ethics. They take into consideration the relational claims of each person, whether or not they are in the room. Socioculturally attuned contextual therapy expands the relational ethics lens to include the sociopolitical context of intergenerational family processes. They are also attentive to how relational accountability intersects with societal power dynamics. A third order shift in consciousness provides family members with perspective on their social situations and ethical responsibilities and increases their ability to make intentional choices about how their actions contribute to posterity and the systemic balance of fairness.
