Social Exchange Theory

Social Exchange Theory is a social psychological and sociological perspective that explains social change and stability as a process of negotiated exchanges between parties. Social Exchange Theory posits that all human relationships are formed by the use of a subjective cost-benefit analysis and the comparison of alternatives. The theory has roots in economics, psychology and sociology. Social Exchange Theory features many of the main assumptions found in rational choice theory and structuralism.

Read more about Social Exchange Theory:  History, Basic Concepts, 12 Theoretical Propositions, Assumptions, Comparison Levels and Modes of Exchange, Critiques, Applications

Famous quotes containing the words social, exchange and/or theory:

    “Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, lessens the friction of social contacts.... It is only in lies, wholeheartedly and bravely told, that human nature attains through words and speech the forebearance, the nobility, the romance, the idealism, that—being what it is—it falls so short of in fact and in deed.”
    —Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987)

    “So long as the system of competition in the production and exchange of the means of life goes on, the degradation of the arts will go on; and if that system is to last for ever, then art is doomed, and will surely die; that is to say, civilization will die.”
    —William Morris (1834–1896)

    “Thus the theory of description matters most.
    It is the theory of the word for those
    For whom the word is the making of the world,
    The buzzing world and lisping firmament.”
    —Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)