Help Wanted: A Grand Theorist of Interpersonal Relationships, Sociologist or Anthropologist Preferred

Abstract

Knowledge about interpersonal relationships is currently encapsulated within type of relationship (e.g. romantic, parental), with relationship type confounded with disciplinary approach, with the characteristics of the partners usually found in that type of relationship, as well as with the nature of the relationship phenomena examined. It is argued that a critical issue for the relationship field is whether a grand, overarching theory of relationships can be developed. Such a theory would directly address the principal relationship types, delineating the similarities and differences among them with respect to the causal conditions associated with various relationship phenomena. It is further argued that an important class of causal conditions that governs behavior in all relationships is the culturally defined norms, roles and expectations associated with type of relationship, and that these cultural prescriptions - as opposed to `individualistic' causal conditions - must play an important role in any unifying theory. If so, the sociological and anthropological perspectives need to achieve better balance with the psychological perspective that is becoming dominant in theory and research on interpersonal relationships.