Credits, references, and bibliography

Richard Emerson

Exchange Relationships and Networks

1. Focus differs from Homans:
   • Power
   • No need to assume rational actor
   • Macro-level focus
2. Exchange network (micro-macro)
   • Link single individual and dyad to larger organizations.
   • Rewards given to and received from social interaction.
   • If rewarded, act rationally--and situations will re-occur.
   • Satiation--decline in relevance.
   • Benefits depend on costs.
   • Social structure as a dependent variable.
   • Social-exchange relationships and exchange networks.
3. Exchange Networks
   • Actors: individuals or collectivities.
   • Exchange among several actors.
   • Network
     1. Web of relationships.
     2. Differential distribution of resources.
     3. Mutually shared--opportunities and relations.
     4. Multiple relationships exist--creating the network.
        • "..two exchange relations between actors can be seen as forming a social structure." (2, page 165)
        • Linkage between exchange relations key: dyad--macro level.
        • Contingent relationship(s) between multiple actors.
        • A-B and B-C form network (A-B-C) when:
          • A-B relationship has effect on B-C (or vice versus)
          • Not just A-B-C (as joint members)
     5. Each exchange relationship is part of larger structure: connect when one affects another.
        • Positive connection: gain in one leads to gain in another.
        • Negative: gain in one produces loss in another--opportunity cost.
4. Power-Dependence
   1. Power: Ability of one actor to impose cost on another.
   2. Dependence: References the cost an actor will accept to maintain a relationship.
   3. Unequal relationships, overtime, move toward greater equality (or balance).
   4. Actors mutual dependence: affects interaction and determines power-relations.
   5. Power of A over B is based on B's dependence on A.
      • Balance or imbalance
      • Power is a potential in the structure of the relationship
      • Power--reward distribution
   6. Most studies focus on positive reward structures
   7. Linda Molm: negative (punishment) (local copy).
      • Weaker, yet may be based on infrequent use.
      • Perceived as fair when used by actors with power to reward.
5. Integrative Exchange Theory
   1. Macro concerns: power of position in a network (structure).
      • Based on dependence of entire network.
      • Function of centrality of position (intersecting nodes).
      • Nature of power-dependence relationships: vulnerability.
   2. Strengths: micro-macro integration: same propositions explain interaction.
   3. Evidence of growing concern with macro-level exchanges (2, page 167).
6. Scale-free Networks: see work of Albert-Laszlo Barabasi.
7. Networks and Society (and this) and Network Basics
8. Capitalist network that runs the world (October 2011)

JSTOR Articles:

1. Richard M. Emerson. 1976. "Social Exchange Theory." Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 2,, pp. 335-362. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2946096 (local copy)
2. Richard M. Emerson.1962. "Power-Dependence Relations." American Sociological Review, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Feb.), pp. 31-41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2089716.pdf (local copy)
3. Bonacich, Phillip. 1989. Review: [Untitled]. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94, No. 5 (Mar.), pp. 1251-1254. Reviewed work(s):
   Social Exchange Theory. by Karen S. Cook. http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2780497.pdf (local copy)

"Building on the work of George Homans, Richard Emerson (1925-1983) asserted that power was central to exchange, that actors are not entirely rational, and that social relations and networks could be used to explain both micro- and macro-level phenomena.  Emerson's exchange theory focuses on the rewards and costs of social interaction and takes social structure as a variable dependent on exchange.  The theory assumes that people act rationally within the context of situations, thereby allowing the situations to occur.  It also assumes that as people become satiated with the rewards they obtain from a situation, those situations will be of declining importance to them.  Last, it assumes that benefits obtained depend on the benefits of exchange.

According to Emerson, social structure is produced and reproduced through exchange mechanisms.  The exchange network is a web of social relationships that involves a number of individuals or groups.  All individuals and groups have opportunities to exchange with others.  These relationships interrelate with one another to form network structure.  Each exchange relationship is embedded in a larger exchange network.

In exchange theory, power is defined as the potential cost that one actor can induce another to accept.  Dependency is the potential cost that an actor is willing to accept within an exchange relationship.  Mutual dependencies condition the nature of an interaction.  When there is an imbalance of power and dependency between two actors, the one with more power and less dependence will have an advantage that can be used to collect rewards or distribute punishments.  Exchange theorists argue that the relative power of an actor is determined by the position of an actor in an exchange network.  The amount of dependence of the entire structure on the position will determine its power.  This perspective can be used to examine both the social behavior of individuals and social structure.  It can also be used to examine how changes in power-dependency at the micro-level affect macro-level phenomena and vice-versa."(1)

Internet Exercise(1)

The idea of an exchange network seems straightforward, but real-life exchange networks can be very complex and difficult for social scientists to map.  Go to the Network Visualization page at http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/~lk/netvis/substanz.html and answer the following questions.

a.       A micro-level example:  Look at the patterns of exchange among the !Khung.  What does this pattern tell us about the relationship among participants?

b.      Look at the growth of the German Petition Movement.  According to the web page, what forces account for this pattern?

c.       A macro-level example:  Look at the structure of world trade.  Does the pattern it represents support Emerson's theory?

Weblinks:

1. Social Exchange Theory Weblinks: http://www.ohio.edu/people/dalesand/socialex.html
2. Wikipedia on Social Exchange Theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_exchange_theory
3. Exchange Theory and Rational Choice Theory

quiz

Works Cited

1. Much of this page comes from the "Instructor's Manual" to accompany Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics, Second Edition, George Ritzer, Mcgraw-Hill, 2007. The Instructor's Manual was prepared by James Murphy, University of Maryland, College Park and Todd Stillman, Fayetteville State University. These excerpts are from chapter 7.
2. Ritzer, George. 2007/2010/2013. Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics. 2nd/3rd/4th editions. St. Louis: McGraw-Hill

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