Concepts Wholeness - greater than the sum of parts. Interdependence - Virginia Satir used the example of the mobile to describe the family. Everything is a delicate balance and if you take a piece off the mobile it effects the entire rest of the mobile - making it lopsided. Balancing change - equilibrium is the idea that the family actively works to keep things in balance. It does this by resisting change, the use of feedback to control the behavior of family members, creating rules to maintain balance and a host of other techniques.
Systems theory is useful for looking at the dynamics of family interaction.
It provides a good framework for exploring family interaction, and allows you to look at the family and its context. Family Development - unilinear model looks at how family member deal with roles and developmental tasks as they pass through time. They are like a mirror of my behavior - when they reflect back an image of weirdness, I will modify my behavior accordingly. Family is the cradle of class, gender oppression. Negotiation - technique whereby you use your goals and resources to move the other party.