Ebook: Exchange Theory in Classical Sociology Thought

15 p.Warshay, in The Current State of Sociological theory (1975), characterizes exchange theory as one of the eight large theories. Yet Heath (1971:91) informs us that the only agreement sociologists have concerning which particular theorists should be considered under this heading are, G.C. Homans, Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms (1961) and P.M. Blau, Exchange an Power in Social Life (1964). The problem with concentrating on these specific works of Homans and Blau are that they result in a view of exchange theory as uniquely individualistic, totally ignoring collectivistic exchange theory. It is indeed interesting that very little of significance has been added to this approach in since Homans classic statement. Milan Zafirovski (2003) has provided a good summery of the updates of exchange theory. For the most part, the theory has changed very little.