A.  Rational Choice, Social Exchange and Individual Behavior

  1. Assume people are rational and base their actions on what are perceived as the most effective means to their goals.  Weighing alternative means to alternative ends: rational choice.

  2.  exchange theory ­ social interaction is seen as an exchange of tangible or intangible goods and services. ­ contracts of give and return.

  3.  emphasize individual activity and choice involving reciprocity

  4.  gift giving ­ a means of social cohesion,  mutual obligations establish friendly relations, marriage being an example of gift exchange to create or cement  group (family) relations and personal career.

  5.  scarcity ­ we cannot have all the goods or status or emotional rewards we might like.

  6.  Four basic premises:

  Individuals are rational maximizers.

  The more you have the less you are interested in it.

  Prices determined by buyers and sellers, demand/supply

  Monopoly leads to higher prices.

  7.  Game theory:  behavioral school (Skinner)  theory based on direct observable behaviors (not thoughts or feelings), sets of choices and alternatives.  Social life is a zero-sum game.  One person’s gain is another’s loss.

 B.  George Homans: Elementary Social Behavior

  1.  The Human Group ­ elementary social behavior ­ behavior that appears and reappears whether or not people plan on its doing so.

 2.  psychological principles are the building blocks of sociology

 3. social exchange: interlocking deductive system: Propositions:  success, stimulus, value = rationality (includes 1-3), deprivation-satisfaction, aggression-approval.

 4.  Universal principles:  rationality, deprivation ­satiation proposition, aggression-approval.

  5. Power ­ the ability to provide valuable rewards.

 6. Power and equity ­ moral or normative dimension, restrain the use that people make of their power.

 7.  Games Theory
 
C.  Rational Choice and Social Structure  Peter Blau

 1.  Exchange and Power in Social Life ­ an aspect of most social behavior.

 2.  price mechanisms in social exchange ­ create social integration, impression management

3.  Status ­ the common recognition by others of the amount of esteem and friendship that some receives.

 4. Exchange, Trust and Reciprocity - social exchange creates trust, norm of reciprocity.

 5.  Conformity ­ exchange is increasingly indirect, this depends on the strength and internalization of social norms.  Social approval creates conformity.

 D.  James Coleman ­ Foundations of Social Theory

 1. Coalitions, Trust and Norms  collective decisions = individuals maximizing utility. Exchanging "useless" power for "useful" power. (legislative coalitions)

 2.  fundamental concepts of rights underlie social norms

 3. social capital ­ aspects of social structures that make it easier for people to achieve things.

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