Marriage problems and the ‘technicians of human relations’

Abstract

Mention has already been made of the growing number of problem behaviours and interpersonal difficulties which can now be ‘treated’ or subjected to ‘expert’ knowledge, guidance and intervention. One area of particular growth has been that of marriage and conciliation services. David Morgan (1985) has described developments in this area as the ‘medicalisation of marriage’. What this means is the application of medical models of intervention into family problems in clinical settings, often distinguished by the use of systems thinking. Lasch (1977) refers to this development in rather negative terms as ‘the new religion of health’ dominated by the ‘technicians of human relations’ which can include everyone from social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and family therapists to marriage guidance counsellors.