Questioning the tradition of individual responsibility, this pioneering book also transforms the concept of responsibility by giving centre stage to the relational process rather than to the individual - replacing alienation and isolation with meaningful dialogue.

The first three chapters are the editors' own contribution on relational responsibility - followed by their analysis of a challenging case study involving the issue of child sexual abuse. The next 14 chapters contain responses from leading academics and professionals in the fields of communication, psychology and organizational development, which extend the editors' original dialogue. In conclusion, Sheila McNamee and Kenneth Gergen illustrate relational responsibility by taking the responses as suggestions for extending, redirecting and augmenting the original concept and practice of relational responsibility.