George C. Homans was an American sociologist regarded as the founder of behavioral sociology and a principal architect of social exchange theory. In Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms (1961) he applied principles drawn from behaviorist psychology and elementary economics to argue that everyday social interaction can be understood as an exchange of activity, approval, and other rewards and costs between individuals. His insistence on grounding sociological explanation in the observable behavior of individuals, rather than in free-standing social structures, made him an influential and controversial figure who pushed the discipline toward a more explicitly individualist, psychologically grounded theory of social behavior.
Facts
Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionFounder of behavioral sociology and one of the architects of social exchange theory, developing propositions that explain everyday social interaction as an exchange of activity, approval and other rewards and costs between individuals. 1 Notable WorkThe Human Group and Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms 1 Connections
Associated With
George C. Homans's exchange theory is a direct forerunner of rational choice theory in sociology.
Homans social exchange theory modeled everyday social interaction on an economic logic of costs and rewards similar to market exchange.
Institutions Informed
Emerson power-dependence theory built directly on Homans earlier foundational statement of social exchange theory.
Theories Developed
George C. Homans founded social exchange theory (Social Behavior as Exchange, 1958).
Source Wikipedia: Social Exchange Theory
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. George C. Homans (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead paragraph, opening sentence (birth date)
George Caspar Homans (August 11, 1910, May 29, 1989) was an American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, the 54th president of the American Sociological Association, and one of the architects of social exchange theory.
Lead paragraph, opening sentence (birth year)
George Caspar Homans (August 11, 1910, May 29, 1989) was an American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, the 54th president of the American Sociological Association, and one of the architects of social exchange theory.
Lead paragraph, opening sentence (death date)
George Caspar Homans (August 11, 1910, May 29, 1989) was an American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, the 54th president of the American Sociological Association, and one of the architects of social exchange theory.
Lead paragraph, opening sentence (death year)
George Caspar Homans (August 11, 1910, May 29, 1989) was an American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, the 54th president of the American Sociological Association, and one of the architects of social exchange theory.
Lead paragraph, opening sentence (nationality)
George Caspar Homans (August 11, 1910, May 29, 1989) was an American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, the 54th president of the American Sociological Association, and one of the architects of social exchange theory.
Lead paragraph, opening sentence (defining contribution)
George Caspar Homans (August 11, 1910, May 29, 1989) was an American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, the 54th president of the American Sociological Association, and one of the architects of social exchange theory.
Lead paragraph, second sentence (notable works)
Homans is best known in science for his research in social behavior and his works The Human Group, Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms, his contributions to exchange theory, and the different propositions he developed to explain social behavior.
Background section, opening sentence (birthplace)
George C. Homans was born in Boston on August 11, 1910, and grew up in Boston's Back Bay district, the son of Robert Homans and Abigail Adams-Homans.
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