Social Exchange Theory - Critiques

Critiques

Katherine Miller outlines several major objections to or problems with the social exchange theory as developed from early seminal works

• The theory reduces human interaction to a purely rational process that arises from economic theory.
• The theory favors openness as it was developed in the 1970s when ideas of freedom and openness were preferred, but there may be times when openness isn’t the best option in a relationship.
• The theory assumes that the ultimate goal of a relationship is intimacy when this might not always be the case.
• The theory places relationships in a linear structure, when some relationships might skip steps or go backwards in terms of intimacy.

It also is strongly seated in an individualist mindset, which may limit its application in and description of collectivist cultures.

Russell Cropanzano and Marie S. Mitchell discuss how one of the major issues within the social exchange theory is the lack of information within studies on the various exchange rules. Reciprocity is a major exchange rule discussed but Cropanzano and Mitchell write that the theory would be better understood if more research programs discussed a variety of exchange rules such as altruism, group gain, status consistency and competition.