Social Exchange and the Maintenance of Order in Status-Stratifed Systems

Abstract

This paper examines the role of social exchange in the construction of microorder within status-differentiated relations. How order is constructed and maintained in the context of social inequality is a classic sociological problem. We use a serendipitous finding from a recent experiment as a stimulus for theorizing an important feature of this larger problem of order. The finding is that, in an experiment where African-American females negotiated with white males, the white males received much larger payoffs than the African-American females. Yet, despite substantial power and profit differentiation advantaging white males, both individuals reported positive feelings (pleasure/satisfaction and interest/excitement) to the same degree, which contradicts most research on emotional responses to power. We argue that these similar emotional responses, in the context of substantial payoff inequalities, are due to parallel, joint effects of (a) status processes that create and legitimate initial profit differences and (b) exchange processes that make salient a relationship between the actors during repeated exchange. This explanation integrates notions of status value, referential structure, and legitimacy from status theories with notions of relational cohesion and shared responsibility from exchange theories.Broadly, the paper proposes some ways to productively interweave ideas from status and exchange theories to explain the emergence or maintenance of enduring social inequalities.

The power process and emotion

“…As long as exchange generates positive emotions to some degree, repeated exchanges build relations even under unequal power (see Thye et al 2007). The only exception to this pattern has been when one actor has extremely low power; here exchanges do not generate positive emotions or feelings (see Lawler and Yoon 1998).…”

“…A review of the psychological and sociological literatures reveals an almost endless array of variation in how emotion, affect, feelings, moods, and sentiments are used (Lawler 2007). We adopt a commonly used definition of emotions as transitory positive or negative evaluative states with physiological, neurological, and cognitive components (Izard 1991;Kemper 1978).…”

“…Affect is generally construed as a broader term than emotion (see Brief and Weiss 2002). It subsumes the generalized feelings of concern described here, as well as more enduring emotional states such as moods (which are diffuse feelings without targets) and sentiments (which target self, other, or groups) (Lawler 2007). Unless otherwise noted, we limit the scope of our analysis to short-term emotional states while recognizing that in dealing with recurrent interactions or exchanges, the distinction between transitory and enduring affective states tends to blur.…”