Exchange and Power in Social Life

In his landmark study of exchange and power in social life, Peter M

Klappentext In this landmark study! originally published in 1964! Peter Blau considers a basic question: How does social life become organized into increasingly complex structures of associations among humans? "Blau's analysis represents a very important advance in the application of exchange analysis to social structure and behavior."--S. N. Eisenstadt! The American Journal of Sociology Zusammenfassung In his landmark study of exchange and power in social life, Peter M. Blau contributes to an understanding of social structure by analyzing the social processes that govern the relations between individuals and groups. The basic question that Blau considers is: How does social life become organized into increasingly complex structures of associations among humans. This analysis, first published in 1964, represents a pioneering contribution to the sociological literature. Blau uses concepts of exchange, reciprocity, imbalance, and power to examine social life and to derive the more complex processes in social structure from the simpler ones. The principles of reciprocity and imbalance are used to derive such processes as power, changes in group structure; and the two major forces that govern the dynamics of complex social structures: the legitimization of organizing authority of increasing scope and the emergence of oppositions along different lines producing conflict and change.

Autorentext
Blau, Peter

Klappentext

In his landmark study of exchange and power in social life, Peter M. Blau contributes to an understanding of social structure by analyzing the social processes that govern the relations between individuals and groups. The basic question that Blau considers is: How does social life become organized into increasingly complex structures of associations among humans. This analysis, first published in 1964, represents a pioneering contribution to the sociological literature. Blau uses concepts of exchange, reciprocity, imbalance, and power to examine social life and to derive the more complex processes in social structure from the simpler ones. The principles of reciprocity and imbalance are used to derive such processes as power, changes in group structure; and the two major forces that govern the dynamics of complex social structures: the legitimization of organizing authority of increasing scope and the emergence of oppositions along different lines producing conflict and change.

Zusammenfassung
In his landmark study of exchange and power in social life, Peter M

Inhalt
Introduction; One: The Structure of Social Associations; Two: Social Integration; Three: Social Support; Four: Social Exchange; Five: Differentiation of Power; Six: Expectations; Seven: The Dynamics of Change and Adjustment in Groups; Eight: Legitimation and Organization; Nine: Opposition; Ten: Mediating Values in Complex Structures; Eleven: The Dynamics of Substructures; Twelve: Dialectical Forces