Tuesday, August 30, 2011

John Rowan - Review: Hubert Hermans & Agnieszka Hermans-Konopka (2010)/ Dialogical Self Theory: Positioning and Counter-positioning in Globalizing Society


Over at Integral Leadership Review, psychotherapist John Rowan reviews the new book from Hubert Hermans and Agnieszka Hermans-Konopka, Dialogical Self Theory: Positioning and Counter-positioning in Globalizing Society (2010). Since the book is insanely expensive, I'll have to settle for the review.
Book Review: 
Hubert Hermans and Agnieszka Hermans-Konopka: Dialogical Self Theory: Positioning and Counter-positioning in Globalizing Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2010).


John Rowan


This is a brilliant book which would be of interest to Integral people for three reasons: although it does not have a concept of levels, it does range over all four quadrants of the AQAL model; it uses second-tier thinking throughout; and it is firmly research-based.


The first chapter takes us on to the international stage, and the concept of globalization. Straight away we are introduced to second-tier thinking. “The reaction to uncertainty that is central in the present book is a dialogical one. The special nature of dialogue is that it copes with uncertainty by going into this uncertainty rather than avoiding it. Entering a dialogue, with other individuals or with oneself, opens a range of possibilities that are not fixed at the beginning but remain flexible and susceptible to change during the process itself.” (p.46)


The book goes on to explore the process of globalization in a number of fruitful ways. The authors link external processes to internal processes all along the line. “In an era of increased globalization the number and nature of voices in the self have been expanded dramatically, and we are increasingly involved in mediated forms of dialogue: “In contrast to earlier times, dialogical relationships make use of technological advances such as the Internet, e-mail, mobile telephones, multi-user dimensions, and short-message systems that expand our dialogical possibilities beyond the boundaries of self and identity as described in traditional theories.” (p.64) These authors point out that dialogical self theory allows one to make distinctions between several closely related concepts such as uncertainty, anxiety, threat, confusion and absurdity. (p.79)


After the global reach of Chapter 1, in Chapter 2 we come to the individual. Self and identity are looked at in terms of traditional, modern, postmodern and dialogical models.

Read the whole review. 
About the Author: John Rowan
John Rowan is an author, counselor, psychotherapist and clinical supervisor who practices Primal integration in England. He has worked with Ken Wilber in exploring Transpersonal psychology and has written several books on subpersonalities. He has a Ph. D from Middlesex University, is an Honorary Fellow of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and a past member of its governing board, representing the Humanistic and Integrative Section. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (member of the Psychotherapy Section and the Counseling Psychology Division, the Counseling Psychology Division, the Transpersonal Psychology Section and the Consciousness and Experience Section). He is also a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and a founding member of the Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners. His most popular publication is Ordinary Ecstasy which was originally published in 1976 and is a summary and guide to all the branches of Humanistic psychology.

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