Disrupting Dominant Discourses of the Idealized Nuclear Family: A Study of Plural Families in Centennial Park, Arizona.

Polygamy; Religion; Religious life of families; Relational dialectics theory; Interpersonal relations

Using a dialogic lens, this study investigated the discursive construction of family articulated by Centennial Park residents who practice plural marriage. In talk, Centennial Park residents marginalize the dominant cultural discourse positioning the nuclear family as the ideal family form by advancing a competing discourse. Specifically, Centennial Park residents advance a discourse, nuclear families are limiting (and thus not ideal), which privileges plural families over traditional cultural models of family. This competing discourse idealizes the capacity building potential of plural families, while positioning the nuclear family as one that is restrictive (i.e., inhibiting the potential of what could be). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]