The Exchange Theory
The heart of Homans's exchange theory lies in propositions based on psychological principles. According to Homans they are psychological for two reasons: first, they are usually tested on people who call themselves psychologists and second, they are psychological because of the level at which they deal with the individual in society. Homans says, "they are propositions about the behavior of individual human beings, rather than propositions about groups or societies." He believed that a sociology built on his principles would be able to explain all social behavior. But, he regrets that his theory was labeled "Exchange Theory" because he sees this social behavior theory as a behavioral psychology applied to specific situations. Homans looked to Emilie Durkheim's work for guidance as well, but often disagreed in the end with particular components of Durkheim's theories. For example, Durkheim believed that although individuals are clearly the component parts of society, society is more than the individuals who constitute it. He believed that society could be studied without reducing it to individuals and their motivations. However, Homans, through his Exchange Theory, believed that individual beings and behavior are relevant to understanding society.
Read more about this topic: George C. Homans
Famous quotes containing the words exchange and/or theory:
“I cannot say what poetry is; I know that our sufferings and our concentrated joy, our states of plunging far and dark and turning to come back to the world—so that the moment of intense turning seems still and universal—all are here, in a music like the music of our time, like the hero and like the anonymous forgotten; and there is an exchange here in which our lives are met, and created.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“The theory seems to be that so long as a man is a failure he is one of God’s chillun, but that as soon as he has any luck he owes it to the Devil.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)