Exchange And Power In Social Life

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.

Capitalizing on significant developments in social science over the past twenty years, this book explores both the positive and negative aspects of power, identifying opportunities and threats. It shows how managers and employees can manage power in order to make it a constructive force in organizations.

Coercive Power in Social Exchange describes the progression and results of a decade-long program of experimental research on power in social exchange relations. Exchange theorists have traditionally excluded punishment and coercion from the scope of their analyses; Molm examines whether exchange theory can be expanded to include both reward and coercive power. Working within the framework of Emerson's power-dependence theory, but also drawing on the decision theory concepts of strategic action and loss aversion, Molm develops and tests a theory of coercion in social exchange that emphasizes the interdependence of these two bases of power. Her work shows that reward power and coercive power are fundamentally different, not only in their effects on behavior but also in the structural incentive to use power and the risks of power use. When exchanges are nonnegotiated and secured by the "shadow of the future", rather than by binding agreements, dependence both encourages and constrains the use of coercion.

This book describes the progression and results of a decade-long experiment on power in social exchange relations. Exchange theorists have traditionally excluded punishment and coercion from their analyses; but Molm examines whether exchange theory can be expanded to include reward and coercive power. She develops and tests a theory that emphasizes the interdependence of reward and coercive power, finding that they are fundamentally different, not only in their effects on behavior, but also in the incentive and the risks of power use.

A collection of thirteen essays--considered "classics" in the field of urban politics--from leading scholar Clarence Stone, with new essays by the editors and by Stone himself that contextualize the impact of his previous works and suggest new directions for researchers.