Relational Dialectics

 February 11th, 2022 

  Hey guys and welcome back to our series 3 of  Comm Theory studies. In today's blog post, we will uncover the significance behind Relational Dialectics Theory or in other words, RDT.  More specifically, today we will be discussing the six tensions both (internal and external) of RTD. 

Up above is a table image of the categories of the tensions , their internal and their external counterparts . As you guys know by now, I like to make things more personable and connected to give you guys a more relatable standpoint. Before we go further, let's define what RDT really is. RDT stands for Relational Dialectics Theory that focuses on the "dynamic and unceasing struggle between discourses about interpersonal relationships"(Griffen et. al, 2019).   

     Of the counterparts of this theory, there are six tensions that can be linked with internal and external dialects. One example of an internal dialect in regards to gender would be coming out to your parents about your sexual orientation. In regards to this action, I find it to be categorized as being oppeneess- closedness and here's why : 

A table of The three common dialectical tensions in Relationships up above 

Relational Dialects : I want to dive into this conversation with referring to a friend of mine who recently had the courage to come out to her parents about her sexuality (Yes, I received the O.K. from her to disclose this information). I wanted to use this specific example because I feel that it embodies one of the tensions of relational dialectics theory. This tension is known as "Expression-Nonexpression" which is linked with the internal dialectic of "openess-closedness".  At the beginning of her coming out, she disclosed to me  of her sexuality and was very comfortable and open about who she was. She didn't feel the need to conceal this with her friends or anyone whom she met with on campus if asked. When she went home however, she decided that it was time for her to come out to her parents and felt pretty confident until she realized that her parents would not take the news lightly or as easy as her peers at our school. I remember her texting me one night when it had happened and I remember her being sad and kind of quiet. From then on, anytime she was asked about her sexuality, she would move much more quietly and cautiously. To this day, it's fascinating to see how this change shifted and her persona. 

An example of an existing external tension occurred between a conversation between my myself and the norms of society when it comes to discussing what life is supposed to be like after college. The conventional approach follows the idea that "discursive struggles that occur between a couple and their community" (Griffen et al., 2019) While there isn't the discussion of a couple in this case, there is discourse between myself and as I mentioned before, societal norms. For example, we know the norm is to follow the normal paths of after having conquered college, we immerse ourselves into the world of 9-5 shifts but I want to take the unconventional route of creating my own level of happiness with the life I chose to live after college.  So you see here the contrast between the conventional means of life and my willingness to want to stray away from that norm. 

                                                Communication Privacy Management 

Let's move on to another enlightening topic. This is the last of our interpersonal relationship theories and is called Communication Privacy Management (CPM) for short. This theory derived by Sandra Petronio focuses on CPM as a "description of a privacy management system that contains three main parts known as privacy ownership, privacy turbulence, and privacy control" (Griffen et al., 2019). We don't think about this often, but we are often co-owners of other's secrets! One way to become a co-owner of this theory is to be on the other end of the disclosed message another way is if one is placed in a difficult position where danger is involved, one may be informed of the secret. In addition to this, we each make rules that the other must follow in order to make sure that the secret is safe with them. To elaborate, "when co-owners of private information don't effectively negotiate and follow mutually held privacy rules , boundary turbulence is the likely result" (Griffen et. al, 2019). As always, we cannot discuss these theories without discussing both internal and external functions. 

Being Co- Owners of Information: 

As we know, internal and external tensions are bound to grow from things as such. A prime example would be telling my best friend a secret and instructing her not to tell anyone else . In response to this, she says she won't but still tells my secret to someone else. This would break down privacy boundaries between the both of us. Our relationship would be severed and we would experience the tension of stability- change which is in cohesion with certainty-uncertainty or in other words predictability vs. spontaneous. On the other, let's regard an external example . This example would be an interaction I once had with my cousin and myself.  I had miraculously figured out the gender of her baby but she wanted to keep it a secret from her co-workers and non-immediate family members. This action resembles the revelation - concealment. In this example, revelation refers to the sharing of news that she had become pregnant however she wanted to conceal the gender from her co-workers and non-immediate family members while this was ok with some, it frustrated others in the process.  

RDT & CPM : 

If you've made it this far , I truly commend you. The last thing I want to discuss with you all is  how a person can manage their online presence and privacy. A person is in control of their privacy essentially and therefore has the ability to share as much or as little as they would like to with their audience . This takes us back to our discussion on privacy boundaries which if you remember is that privacy boundaries depend on showing show how people think of the boarders between private and public information. For instance , as an external example, let's think of relationships and their nature of not being linear. Relationships are characterized by change and life changing events that occur. Due to these changes, people can chose to disclose less information as they may have once shared with their public online audience depending on factors that get in the way of them having the freedom to disclose.  For example, one person may be involved in legal action and cannot disclose any information regarding the case to his/her outside audience. That strain on disclosing less from their online audience can lead to a shift in their Expectancy Violation as well as tensions such as expression-nonexpression aka, revelation - concealment

 Now, we have neared the end of this week's blog post! I hope you were able to gain some valuable insight into how Relational dialect and CMP are closely related to one another . If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment down below ! Have a great day, and i'll see you all in the next blog post !