Social Exchange Theory

12 Key excerpts on "Social Exchange Theory"

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  Engaging Theories in Family Communication

  Multiple Perspectives

  • Dawn O. Braithwaite, Elizabeth A. Suter, Kory Floyd, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Elizabeth A. Suter, Kory Floyd(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  25Social Exchange Theory A Cost-Benefit Approach to Relationships

  Laura Stafford

  Our relationships with family can provide many rewards. These relationships also come with costs. According to social exchange theories, the interpersonal interactions and relationships we engage in depend upon our estimates of the costs and rewards they will bring. Social Exchange Theory is not actually one theory. Rather, it is a framework for a set of related theories. A social exchange framework “refers to any conceptual model or theoretical approach that focuses on the exchange of resources (material or symbolic) between or among people” (Sprecher, 1998, p. 32). The beginnings of social exchange theories can be traced to psychologists Thibaut and Kelley (1959) and sociologists Blau (1964) and Homans (1961). Those psychologists and sociologists adopted the concepts of rewards, costs, and resources from behavioral psychology and economics. Social exchange theories expand the concepts of economics to “the notion of exchange to include all interpersonal experiences” (Foa & Foa, 2012, p. 15).

  Intellectual Tradition of Social Exchange Theory

  Social exchange theories comprise falsifiable propositions: propositions can be found false. Thus, this group of theories is considered to be post-positivist. The overarching proposition is that people are rational beings who act in accordance with their own self-interests. People conduct a cost-benefit analysis on some level about interpersonal interactions and relationships and then, according to exchange theories, act in ways we believe will be profitable, similar to economic exchange.

  Main Goals and Features of Social Exchange Theory

  As social exchange theories are based in social scientific principles, their main goal is to predict and explain behavior. By understanding the factors (the rewards and costs) that people consider in making decisions, we can predict and explain their behavior. These predictions and explanations are based in several key premises and concepts.

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  Principles of Social Psychology

  Third Edition

  • Kelly G. Shaver(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  Most of the research accomplished within the framework of social learning theory concentrates on the behavior of children, because it is during childhood that the vast majority of social learning occurs. But it would be a mistake to conclude that imitation ceases after a person reaches adulthood. (Consider, for example, the amount that advertisers spend on product endorsements made by famous people whose choices we are expected to imitate.) And it would also be a mistake to think that the effects of social reinforcers become substantially less pronounced as we get older. We are all susceptible to a little flattery here and there, and we become increasingly aware of the social costs incurred (and the rewards derived) from our relationships with other people. If there is any apparent change from childhood, it is that as adults, our imitation of others and our search for social rewards becomes more deliberate. This more or less conscious weighing of the social alternatives is at the heart of several theories of interaction.

  Exchange Theory

  The fundamental assumption of various theories of social exchange is that in their interpersonal relations as well as in their own lives people will seek to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain. We form friendships on the basis of mutual trust and support, we avoid social entanglements that we might be too costly, and we join groups that will provide us with personal rewards. The principles of social exchange are most easily described when only two people (a dyad) are involved, so our discussion of social exchange will concentrate on the theory of dyadic interaction developed by Kelley and Thibaut (1978). This theory draws upon the principle of reinforcement, and upon aspects of economics and sociology, and it suggests that each participant brings to an interaction a repertoire of possible behaviors that could be performed. The pleasure or pain experienced by each participant will thus jointly depend on his or her own actions and the actions of the other person. The theory diagrams the interactional possibilities in the form of a matrix, which can be used to illustrate some of the relationships that are possible. In addition, the theory suggests how each participant might evaluate his or her rewards from the interaction.

  The Interaction Matrix

  Suppose that I am your employer, and that you have been working for me long enough to think that it might be time for a raise in your salary, especially because you have just completed a major piece of work that is important to me and the company. We meet in the hallway one day, and each of us has a number of behavioral possibilities. For my part, I can choose to say something about your work or I can ignore it; I can give you a pleasant greeting and ask about your family, or I can merely grunt as I walk by. Your repertoire will be a bit more limited. If you are really interested in a raise, you can neither be openly hostile nor obsequious. You might just say hello, you could ask my advice on a problem, or you could come right out and ask me for a raise. Some of these possibilities are diagrammed in the interaction matrix shown in Fig. 8.1

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  Classical Sociological Theory

  • Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, Indermohan Virk, Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, Indermohan Virk(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Part X Social Exchange Introduction to Part X 44 “Social Behavior as Exchange” 45 Exchange and Power in Social Life Classical Sociological Theory , Fourth Edition. Edited by Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, and Indermohan Virk. Editorial material and organization © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2022 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Social exchange is primarily concerned with identifying how social action – interdependent choices – affects social system behavior. Much of this work emerged as a response to the heavy structural emphasis in Parsonian functionalism, where behavior was seen as the result of social structure and seen as people were largely rule followers. Social exchange theorists sought to build models for social structure from the ground up, starting with simple interdependent behavior, asking if one could account for complex social roles simply by focusing on why people do things for/to each other, without reference to a larger system-level set of norms. A core simplifying assumption underlying many of the models is purposive rationality: people are purposive actors who make choices in their best interests. Given a set of potential actions, actors choose those that are most likely to provide the best outcome. The theoretical roots of such choices vary across theorists, but the goal-oriented nature of individual action remains a key element in all of this work. The basic postulate of optimization, seemingly benign when applied to normal situations like finding the fastest route home from work, becomes sociologically interesting when the other’s optimization attempts intersect – when action becomes interdependent. Thus, the individually optimal route home transforms into a collective nightmare during rush hour, as each person’s driving affects those around him or her. Moreover, when the “things” one optimizes are social instead of material, the quality of interaction changes.

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  Contemporary Social Psychological Theories

  Second Edition

  • Peter J. Burke(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Stanford University Press

    (Publisher)

  In this chapter, we review these insights by providing a history of the social exchange framework in sociology. We concentrate our attention on how recent developments in the social exchange perspective relate to classic theories and general themes in the tradition. Specifically, we highlight how exchange theorists use the building blocks of exchange to explain social behavior and, in accomplishing this, underscore the tension that exists in existing theories between psychological and structural determinants of exchange behavior. Consequently, we begin with a description of the concepts and assumptions foundational to most social exchange theories. We leave it for other chapters in this volume to detail specific theories in depth.

  THE SOCIAL EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE

  All theories of exchange describe the processes by which resources flow between actors as well as the contexts or structures in which these exchanges occur. These are the basic elements of the social exchange perspective.1 Each of these concepts involves assumptions that are also common to most exchange theories.

  Actors

  Theories of social exchange tend to rely on a “minimalist conceptualization” of the actor that makes few assumptions about what motivates exchange behavior (Lawler, Ridgeway, and Markovsky 1993). One assumption that undergirds almost all of them is that actors are self-interested agents who try to increase positively valued benefits and decrease negatively valued ones. Some exchange theories embrace a rational actor model that assumes actors will try to maximize benefits and avoid costs; others adopt a learning model where actors modify their behavior as they discover which behaviors produce greater rewards. The first of these two models assumes calculating, “forward-looking” actors who make choices about how to best attain valued resources (Bienenstock and Bonacich 1992; Coleman 1990).2

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  Handbook of Social Theory

  • George Ritzer, Barry Smart, George Ritzer, Barry Smart(Authors)
  • 2001(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  20 Theories of Social Exchange and Exchange Networks L I N D A D . M O L M As anthropologists first recognized (Le ´vi-Strauss, 1969), many forms of social interaction outside the economic sphere can be conceptua-lized as an exchange of benefits. Both social and economic exchange are based on a fundamental feature of social life: much of what we need and value (for example, goods, services, companion-ship) can only be obtained from others. People depend on one another for these valued resources, and they provide them to each other through the process of exchange. Social exchange theorists take as their focus this aspect of social life – the benefits that people obtain from, and contribute to, social interac-tion, and the opportunity structures and relations of dependence that govern those exchanges. Unlike classical microeconomic theories, which traditionally assumed indepen-dent transactions between strangers, social exchange theorists are primarily interested in relations of some length and endurance. This emphasis on the history of relations reflects the influence of behavioral psychology, the other discipline that played a key role in the theory’s development. Contemporary Social Exchange Theory diverges from both psychology and microeconomics in its emphasis on the social structures within which exchange takes place. Whereas early exchange theorists primarily examined two-party relations, contemporary theorists situate those exchanges in the context of larger net-works, and explore how actors’ structural oppo-rtunities for exchange with alternative partners affect power, coalition formation and related processes. In this chapter I discuss the scope and accom-plishments of contemporary exchange theories in the context of their historical roots and future prospects. I begin with an overview of the basic concepts and assumptions that all approaches share and a brief review of the contributions of early theorists.

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  Frontiers of Social Theory. the New Syntheses

  • George Ritzer(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Columbia University Press

    (Publisher)

  158 6. Exchange Theory 159 arenas commonly assumed to be beyond the scope of economic analy-sis. At the global level, world systems theories in sociology conceive of international relations as exchanges between interdependent countries. At the individual level, social psychologists have analyzed intimate relationships profitably by focusing on each partner's transactions with the other as a means of meeting their personal needs (e.g., Kelley 1979, 1986; Kelley et al. 1983). Whether it be a husband and wife negotiating who will fix dinner, two business partners negotiating a new contract, or two nations en-gaged in the exchange of hostages for arms, exchange relations are an integral part of the social phenomena that we as social scientists are interested in explaining. Exchange theory focuses attention on the re-lationships between interconnected actors, be they individuals, cor-porations or nation-states, rather than represent actors as isolated enti-ties. Embedded in these relations are other social processes of interest to exchange theorists—processes like the exercise of power and influ-ence, the potential for coalition formation and other power-gaining strategies, the normative aspects of exchange, especially conceptions of fairness and unfairness, inequalities in the distribution of resources and perceptions of the legitimacy of power. As our examples indicate, the exchange framework has been used at various levels of analysis in different fields of inquiry which cross disciplinary boundaries. Fields of inquiry include dyadic relations, families, small groups, organizations, interorganizational relations, political-economic relations, economic relations, and international trade relations, among others. Levels of analysis include dyads, groups, net-works, corporate actors, firms, markets, and nation-states. There are many names associated with the development of exchange theory.

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  Love and Attraction

  An International Conference

  • Mark Cook, Glenn Wilson, Mark Cook, Glenn Wilson(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  A good example is the critical view of previous experimental research which has been presented by George Levinger, and his criticisms have been followed by empirical work designed to avoid some of the restrictions of earlier approaches and focusing on specific segments of interpersonal relations, while allowing that social exchange ideas are not applicable to others. The radical critique against the game theory model as part of the exchange framework is also echoed more constructively from within social psychology by a recent theoretical criticism which seeks to reveal flaws in the individualistic emphasis. This criticism has been expressed by Albert Pepitone (1976), who sees game theory and equity or exchange 276 L O V E A N D A T T R A C T I O N theory as inadequate because they encourage a social psychology which is individualistic, ignoring the social or cultural context. Again, we must refer to the counter-argument that, as I mentioned earlier, exchange theory is individualistic only in its starting propositions. In the working hypotheses that are applied to empirical studies of the kind which Huston discusses, exchange ideas tend to treat with the interdependency of relationships that can be described in different social environments. We are thus able to locate liking, as an aspect of behaviour, within social networks; we are able to show that liking behaviour cannot be conceptually located within individuals as the independent unit of study and to confirm that liking and its consequences operate within the normative pressures of the group as a unit of study. One of the interesting things to note about research on exchange notions is that each of the recent computer models, which have been developed to test exchange explanations, also focuses especially on liking between persons (Gullahorn & Gullahorn, 1972; Levinger & Huesmann, 1976). This certainly indicates that the liking relationship is still very central to exchange thinking.

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  Constructs For Understanding Japan

  • Sugimoto, Yoshio Sugimoto, Ross E. Mouer(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Given the fact that Social Exchange Theory has provided a kind of ‘paradigm’ for viewing the human condition in the English-language literature, it is perhaps surprising that such a theory has not been used to analyze Japanese society. Exceptions might be the few fragmentary attempts by Lebra (1969, 1972 and 1975) and Befu (1967, 1968, 1976, 1977a and 1977b). However, neither Befu nor Lebra has used Social Exchange Theory to develop an integrated model of interpersonal relations in Japan. Moreover, in spite of increasing interest in Social Exchange Theory in Japan (Blau 1974; Hashimoto 1973; Hayakawa 1972 and 1973; Inuzuka 1974), the interest is primarily in introducing to Japanese readers exchange theories developed in the West. Thus, the understanding of Japanese society from the perspective of social exchange is still in its infancy. This paper discusses the possibility of understanding social relations in Japan in terms of social exchange.

  Social Exchange Theory is presented here as a concept to explain interpersonal relations, which are seen as having an existence apart from that of the collectivity. Without a model of social relations entirely apart from one which explains collective behaviour, it is difficult to explain various kinds of common phenomena such as kinship relations, friendship, or the tsukiai relationship discussed by Atsumi in Chapter 4 .

  The discussion begins with a brief survey of some major concepts in exchange theory. It then considers some ideas on the instrumental and expressive meaning of social exchange and introduces some findings from an empirical study conducted in Kyotō. It concludes by considering briefly the relevance of Social Exchange Theory for the study of Japanese society.

  2   Concepts in exchange theory

  A   Exchange resource

  The theory of social exchange is predicated upon the idea that each person in society possesses certain resources and that persons act as members of society by exchanging these resources. The individual’s (or the collectivity’s) ‘resources’ are not limited to money, objects and other material things. They include intangibles such as knowledge and information which have an instrumental value. Respect, affection and other types of esteem relevant to an individual’s psychological well-being are also resources.

  B   Social and cultural contexts

  An actor needs a stage, props, a costume and so on in order for his offer to be taken seriously. By the same token, to participate in social exchange a social actor needs more than an abstract scenario. In order for an appropriate bargain to be struck an offer to exchange must be communicated in a culturally acceptable manner. Offers which do not accord with the social and cultural context will have a hollow ring.

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  Rethinking Sociological Theory

  Introducing and Explaining a Scientific Theoretical Sociology

  • Stephen K. Sanderson(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter Six

  Exchange and Rational Choice Theory

     

  Social Exchange Theory

  The ideas in the closely related theories known as exchange and rational choice theory stem from the nineteenth-century philosophy of utilitarianism. The utilitarians saw humans as cost-benefit calculators who choose courses of action that serve their interests and avoid those lines of action that would be costly, that is, detrimental to their interests. It is the aggregate behavior of individuals that constitutes society. Durkheim was the first major sociologist to react strongly against this strain of thought. He insisted that societies are not simply collections of rationally calculating individuals. Society is a total set of social facts, a set of beliefs, values, and social norms. Individual conduct is not motivated by rational self-interest, but rather by the commitment of individuals to the norms and values of the group or society into which they have been socialized. And, for Durkheim, these norms and values have a nonrational foundation. Talcott Parsons continued this line of thinking and integrated it into his functionalist perspective. For the most part, the Durkheim-Parsons line of thought has become standard sociology, and most sociologists accept something more or less like this. Social structures come first and individuals are socialized into them. Beliefs, values, norms, and roles shape individual behavior. Society is not simply an aggregation of individuals, but a “total social fact” that individuals merely represent and carry along.

  Exchange and rational choice theory are intended to be a strong antidote to this standard sociological model. Exchange theory emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s, its most prominent advocates being George Caspar Homans, Peter Blau, John Thibaut and Harold Kelley, and Richard Emerson.1

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  Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology

  Volume Two

  • Paul A M Van Lange, Arie W Kruglanski, E Tory Higgins, Paul A M Van Lange, Arie W Kruglanski, E Tory Higgins, Author(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Yet the questions were intriguing and we set to work to provide theoretical answers backed with empirical support. At that time, the now flourishing area of social research on close relationships had yet to emerge. There was work on interpersonal attraction to be sure. There was work on norms governing how people regulated the giving and receiving of benefits and rewards in relationships with equity theory being the most prominent (see, for example, Adams, 1965; Messick and Cook, 1983; Walster et al., 1978). Yet no social psychologist had suggested the possibility that the rules gov-erning behavior might differ by relationship context. It was in that atmosphere that we set forth a qualitative distinction between com-munal and exchange relationships (Clark and Mills, 1979). A THEORY OF COMMUNAL (AND EXCHANGE) RELATIONSHIPS 233 We drew our inspiration from some brief observations made by sociologist Irving Goffman in his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Goffman had noted differ-ences in the nature “social” and “economic” exchange. Social exchange, he said, was compromised by agreement in advance as to what was to be exchanged. Something given in a social exchange “need only be returned if the relationship calls for it; that is when the putative recipient comes to be in need of a favor or when he is ritually stationed for a ceremonial expression of regard.” In con-trast, in economic exchange, “no amount of mere thanks can presumably satisfy the giver; he must get something of equivalent material value in return.” (Goffman, 1961: 275–276). The distinction was made briefly, no experimentation nor indeed any system-atic research had been done to document it, and we did not completely agree with Goffman.

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  Exchange, Action, and Social Structure

  Elements of Economic Sociology

  • Milan Zafirovski(Author)
  • 2001(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  With this in mind, the present work intends to be a corrective in this regard in that it avoids the notion of social exchange as being not very useful for analysis. Instead, it operates with the concept of market- economic exchange analyzed from a sociological perspective on the econ- omy rather than from a strictly economic one. Since here we apply a neo-Weberian approach to exchange phenomena, it is perhaps appropriate to mention that Weber had almost no use for the notion of social exchange in his economic sociology. What today’s exchange and rational choice theories label social exchange Weber simply called social action/interaction. Formally, Weber has hardly ever used the concept of social exchange in the sense of an extra-economic relationship being driven by economic incentives, as in his framework; exchange is by definition a market-economic one. More substantially, un- like Social Exchange Theory, Weber’s “rational choice” sociology implied no idea that all human behavior was an exchange of rewards and thus no reduction of social action to economic-style transactions. Since Weber usu- ally employs the concept of exchange in reference to economic, especially market, transactions, he does not advance some Social Exchange Theory or the exchange approach in sociology in the sense of the “economic analysis of non-economic social situations” (Emerson 1976:336) by extending ele- Applying a Sociological Approach to Economic Exchange 45 mentary microeconomic models (viz., expected-utility maximization) to “extraeconomic exchange” (Macy 1995:73). In retrospect, the only major classical sociologist that used the term exchange in a non-economic sense was perhaps Simmel. However, Simmel highly qualified this usage. Thus, Simmel (1990:82) states that social inter- action is the more comprehensive and exchange the narrower concept, thus avoiding the reduction of the former to the latter in modern Social Exchange Theory.

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  Social Exchange in Developing Relationships

  • Robert L. Burgess, Ted L. Huston, Robert L. Burgess, Ted L. Huston(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Moreover, the greater the convergence, the more likely the rewards will exceed what the two believe they could receive in other relationships they might establish—that is, their comparison level for alternatives (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959). 5 social exchange in fostering cooperation in general. Pruitt and Kimmel (1977), in a recent critique of research on experimental gaming, suggest a set of conditions similar to those we have identified as facilitating cooperation between game partners. In short, the development of a cooperative relationship involves the discovery within a wide range of settings of the mutual benefits of cooperation over noncooperation. 5 People's expectations of what they ought to get and what they could get elsewhere are rooted not only in their direct experience but in the ethos of their culture. People become 1. Social Exchange in Developing Relationships: An Overview 19 As relationships take on a public character, further reward-cost considerations come into play. Persons involved with either partner or with the couple react to the relationship either by supporting it (and therefore rewarding the partners for maintaining the relationship) or by attempting to thwart it (see Ridley and Avery, Chapter 8). Sir Kenneth Clark (1974), the art historian, provides an illustration of how parental response bears upon relationships: My parents took the news of my attachment (we were never officially en-gaged) very well. They were completely unworldly and it never struck them that I should make a good match. They had, indeed, received some advance warning of the situation, as my father, to relieve his boredom, used to open and read all my letters. Usually they were from Charlie Bell, and his boredom was increased. A few were from Jane and on one of them he wrote Don't let the girl catch you. As soon as they met they adored each other. [My mother] too behaved to Jane with the utmost sweetness and consideration.

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