Stan Korosi

Clinical observations by a child psychiatrist in 1985 of children, rejecting parents, whom they previously loved, on unreasonable and frivolous, if not dangerous fabrications, have led to the established and growing field of Parental Alienation (PA) and Parental Alienation behaviours (PABs). This field is part of the core business of Family Courts and related jurisdictions of resolving parent-child contact problems and addressing resist-refusal dynamics.

The 1980s were a time of tectonic shifts in social values about family and kinship expectations, building on the social upheavals and reorganisations of the 1960s-70s. The conceptualisation of PA occurred at the junction of these profound changes and a shift toward social and relational power in the form of power relations. Society and families changed from institutions to voluntary, at-will narrative networks that became vulnerable to deconstruction by the same narrative means that created them.

Societies in developed democracies also became increasingly aware of the adverse impacts of institutionalised violence against women structured into social institutions. The loosening of social constraints and disconnections between access to social resources and fulfilling aspirations led to social alienation in society and families, expressed in lethal cults, other extreme social and economic presentations and PA in the 1980s and 90s.

Out of this chaotic mix came PA, together with more advanced social and political dialogue about institutional violence and abuse. Family Law is struggling to keep up. This presentation is about how parental alienation stands today.

Recent sociological research situates social alienation as a clinical concern in families due to the harm it causes children. Social alienation in families presents as parental alienation. Its behaviours coerce children into cancelling a family member’s identity leading to their unwarranted rejection. Rejected family members may present with hallmark social and psychological sequelae of an alienating family. Sociological research proposes that alienation in the family is a structuring discourse reflecting broader societal alienation. A sociological view of parental alienation offers a structural perspective on social alienation in the family and its implications for public health policy not addressed in the current psychological and legal discourse.

Final thesis presentation summary of research into parental alienation as a social issue and sociological phenomenon. Parental alienation is a discursive abuse of power manifesting as an alienation discourse. The alienation discourse constructs alienation narratives that communicate stigmatisation and exclusionary actions and structures socially alienating conditions in family and social settings. The research proposes a sociological definition of parental alienation to augment psychological and legal descriptions. It also presents de-alienation strategies involving counter-narratives to address alienating relationships and settings.