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Material, Myth, and Magic: A Cultural Approach to Family Therapy
Author(s) -
SELTZER WENCKE J.,
SELTZER MICHAEL R.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1983.00003.x
Subject(s) - magic (telescope) , mythology , family therapy , psychology , psychotherapist , sociology , history , physics , astronomy , classics
This paper presents a model for a therapeutic approach to the cultural systems of families. Using anthropologically derived concepts of material and ideational planes of culture, magic, and ritualistic intervention, the inducement of culture change in frozen familial systems is framed in dialectical terms. Four brief case studies are presented describing the systems engaged, the material‐ideational rituals employed, and the cultural transformations induced. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some of the theoretical and practical implications of this cultural approach to the family in therapy.