Social Theorists
Peter Blau
Sociology
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Peter Blau was an Austrian-born American sociologist known for extending social exchange theory from face-to-face interaction to the analysis of large-scale social structures and organizations. In Exchange and Power in Social Life (1964) he argued that the same exchange processes that govern relations between individuals also generate emergent structures of power, status, and opposition at the level of groups and institutions. He also carried out influential empirical studies of bureaucracy and formal organizations, and his later work developed a general theory of social structure built around patterns of association among people differentiated by social position.
Facts
Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionFormulated exchange theory explaining how small-scale social exchange relates to social structure, and was among the first sociological theorists to use high-level statistics on macro-level empirical data to test theory. 1 Notable WorkExchange and Power in Social Life (1964) 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Blau The Dynamics of Bureaucracy examined how informal relations and adaptive behavior emerge within the formal rules of a bureaucracy.
Sources
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOpening sentence (birth date)Quote, Opening sentence (birth date)
Peter Michael Blau (February 7, 1918 – March 12, 2002) was an Austrian and American sociologist and theorist.
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOpening sentence (birth year)Quote, Opening sentence (birth year)
Peter Michael Blau (February 7, 1918 – March 12, 2002) was an Austrian and American sociologist and theorist.
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOpening sentence (death date)Quote, Opening sentence (death date)
Peter Michael Blau (February 7, 1918 – March 12, 2002) was an Austrian and American sociologist and theorist.
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOpening sentence (death year)Quote, Opening sentence (death year)
Peter Michael Blau (February 7, 1918 – March 12, 2002) was an Austrian and American sociologist and theorist.
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOpening paragraph, second sentenceQuote, Opening paragraph, second sentence
Born in Vienna, Austria, he immigrated to the United States in 1939.
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOpening sentence (nationality)Quote, Opening sentence (nationality)
Peter Michael Blau (February 7, 1918 – March 12, 2002) was an Austrian and American sociologist and theorist.
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaExchange theory section, opening sentenceQuote, Exchange theory section, opening sentence
Exchange and Power in Social Life (1964) was an important contribution to contemporary exchange theory, one of Blau's
1. Peter Blau (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead paragraph, second paragraphQuote, Lead paragraph, second paragraph
He was one of the first sociological theorists to use high level statistics to develop sociology as a scientific discipline using macro-level empirical data to gird theory.
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