Marriage and the Culture of Peace: Communication Skills for Families, Therapists, and Society

This book provides skills for therapists and families to help improve interpersonal communication, promoting a new system of family coexistence and a refreshed concept of the modern marriage in society.

Written from a constructivist peace perspective, the book’s aim is to reduce the high statistics of intimate partner violence that occurs in Mexico, arguing that the culture of peace and how it is born in the family in turn affects society for better or for worse. Based upon interviews from 150 long-term married couples, the chapters address the components that promote peaceful dialogue in marriages, such as assertive language, active listening, tolerance to frustration, and gender perspectives in marriage. Including accessible language and several models of peace, the book uniquely examines same-sex marriages, the role of children in marriage conflicts, and prescribed gender assumptions and roles in relationships. It aims to empower family members to move away from old habits and seek a more equitable existence in marriages and society at large.

This interdisciplinary text will be of great interest to family therapists and clinical social workers, as well as to students and researchers in communication and peace studies.