Talk:Social exchange theory

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Notes edit

Talk: Social Echange Theory: The information that is listed about social exchange looks to be misplaced Thibaut and Kelley created social exchange and, Altman & Taylor, created Social Penetration Theory. Is this merely an error or is all the information wrong on this page?

The Homans quote in the paragraph "applications" s without a reference; please add a proper citation - makes further research much easier if i don't have mine for quotes myself. 141.35.178.234 16:58, 8 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

I agree (not 100% sure I am right however). Well I use Thibaut and Kelley for the Social exchange theory, and I refer the one that is in this article as: Social Behavior as Exchange for the Homan's one.
Can someone who know well the subject clarify this point? Thanks.
--Nabeth (talk) 15:53, 26 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Xiaosong Chen: From the book Introducation of Communication Theory, the equation is like this Worth = Rewards - Costs ,

·Costs are the elements of relational life that have negative value to a person, such as the effort put into a relationship and the negatives of a partner.

(Costs can be time, money, effort etc.)

·Rewards are the elements of a relationship that have positive value.

(Rewards can be sense of acceptance, support, and companionship etc.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by XiaosongChen (talkcontribs) 15:38, 14 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

Founder edit

I believe Homans was the founder of Social Exchange Theory. — Preceding unsigned comment added by EmilyFuerst (talkcontribs) 16:29, 18 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Hi Emily! Thank you for adding that to the article. Lova Falk talk 18:34, 18 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Name edit

This was moved to capitalized name (Social Exchange Theory). My literature review suggests that this is not common, the theory is not capitalized; i.e. it should be under social exchange theory. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 02:57, 27 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

Dr. Ono's comment on this article edit

Dr. Ono has reviewed this Wikipedia page, and provided us with the following comments to improve its quality:


[Comment]

This article is in reasonable shape, and is among the better articles that I reviewed.

[Suggestions] Opening paragraph: 1. Ok for the most part, except for one correction. Remove “economics” from the following sentence.

Before: The theory has roots in economics, psychology and sociology. After: The theory has roots in sociology and psychology.

Social exchange theory evolved from sociology. This is clearly explained in the first paragraph of the article under “History”: The theory is firmly grounded in sociology and introduced by sociologist George Homans in 1958. Indeed, “social exchange” was developed as the sociologists’ contribution to counter the dominant paradigm in economics which was “economic exchange.” Economic exchange is the economist’s view of markets where transactions are dictated primarily by prices and quantity, and take place between anonymous actors. Under economic exchange, social relations are viewed only as “noise” that can be disregarded from the transactions. It is therefore incorrect to state that social exchange theory has roots in economics.

2. Under “Applications,” “Anthropology” add work by anthropologist Clifford Geertz.

Geertz applies social exchange theory in studying transactions in the peasant economy [1]. He observed that market transactions in the peasant economy do not operate according to pure market forces as proposed by economists. Sellers and buyers frequently come together based on previous social relationships, and not necessarily on the basis of prices and quantity.

[1] Geertz, Clifford. 1978. “The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing.” American Economic Review 68:28-32.

3. Under “Applications,” the entry “interracial marriage” seems inappropriate and should be dropped.

The link between interracial marriage and social exchange seems very weak, or non-existent. The example listed here about marriage between blacks and whites does not do a good job of substantiating this link.

4. Under “Applications,” add the topic “employment relations”

Social exchange is a useful framework to explain long-term employment.[2] The relationship between employers and workers is based more on social relations rather than on economic (or monetary) incentives.[3] There is an implicit understanding that employers will not dismiss workers even in terms of duress and that workers will commit themselves to the workplace and not seek outside options. For example, social exchange has been applied to analyze lifetime employment in Japan. [4][5]

[2] Ben-Porath, Yoram. 1980. “The F-Connection: Families, Friends, and Firms and the Organization of Exchange.” Population and Development Review 6: 1-30. [3] Baron, James N. 1988. “The Employment Relation as a Social Relation.” Journal of the Japanese and International Economies 2: 492-525. [4] Murakami, Yasusuke, and Thomas P. Rohlen. 1992. “Social-Exchange Aspects of the Japanese Political Economy: Culture, Efficiency, and Change.” Pp. 63-105. In The Political Economy of Japan, Volume 3: Cultural and Social Dynamics. Edited by Shumpei Kumon and Henry Rosovsky. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

[5] Ono, Hiroshi. 2007. “Careers in Foreign-Owned Firms in Japan.” American Sociological Review 72: 267-90.


We hope Wikipedians on this talk page can take advantage of these comments and improve the quality of the article accordingly.

We believe Dr. Ono has expertise on the topic of this article, since he has published relevant scholarly research:


  • Reference : Ono, Hiroshi, 2002. "Japanese Labor Market Reform. Why Is It So Difficult?," EIJS Working Paper Series 146, The European Institute of Japanese Studies.

ExpertIdeasBot (talk) 18:00, 26 July 2016 (UTC)Reply

Ideas for editing edit

The section entitled interracial marriage could use some more information about other types of interracial marriage. As well as information to back up claims that were already made. The section needs more sources to show how it applies to the social exchange theory.


~~Seymone B.~~

Richard Marc Emerson was born 1926 according to http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/socialtheory/n92.xml Bethannecamp74 (talk) 23:36, 1 September 2019 (UTC)Reply
Under History section, the pronoun "he" is confusing as the previous sentence lists multiple contributors to Social exchange theory. I had to click on the citation to determine who "he" indicated. "He defined social exchange as the exchange of activity, tangible or intangible, and more or less rewarding or costing between at least two persons." I suggest replacing "he" with "Homans". Bethannecamp74 (talk) 01:17, 2 September 2019 (UTC)Reply
The section on Aging seems more suited to fall under the category of Modes of Exchange rather than a stand alone topic. Has this section been considered for organization under this topic? Bethannecamp74 (talk) 01:17, 2 September 2019 (UTC)Reply

Bibliography edit

Dainton, M. (2015). An Interdependence Approach to Relationship Maintenance in Interracial Marriage. Journal of Social Issues, 772-785.

Jr. Fryer G., R. (2007). Guess Who's Been Coming to Dinner? Trends in Interracial Marriage over the 20th Century. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 71-90.

Rosenfled, M. J. (2010). Still Weak Support for Status-Caste Exchange: A Reply to Critics. American Journal of Sociology, 1264-1276.

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