Beyond the Systems Paradigm

This monograph owes its  origins to the decades-old proposal by David Bakan (1968) about the duality of human experience. He proposed that community and agency  would be two necessary and  sufficient constructs  to classify and to encompass most human relationships. This dichotomy  has been found to be valid by a variety of contributions  over the last half a century (L’Abate, 2009; L’Abate, Cusinato, Maino, Colesso, & Scilletta, 2010). Additionally, the purpose of this book is to argue and assert  that two important fields of psychology,  family and personality  psychologies, if not already dead are conceptually, empirically, and practically  moribund. They are  being superseded respectively by perhaps more appropriate, perhaps more specific,  and more likely verifiable concepts and constructs, such as intimacy and identity. The traditional family still conceived as composed by two parents and two children of different gender is esponsible for only one fourth of all domiciles in USA. Singles, same-sex couples, and completely different family organization complete the remaining 100%. Difficulties in defining what is personality require a  change in perspective and advance toward a comprehensive theory of human relationships that can and should fulfill requirements necessary to achieve an undoubtedly  grandiose and ambitious universal status.