Social Exchange Theory And Social Exchange Theory

In Alice Walker’s Roselily, our main character (Roselily) is a mother of three residing in Mississippi. She questions her actions to marry a man of a different religion, but knows that the marriage will give her a (limited) sense of freedom, and will give her children an opportunity to lead better lives. The story’s central idea reveals that sometimes the love and concern for others can lead to the sacrifice of one’s own happiness.

Rose is unable to fully accept herself or the statements made by her mother throughout the chapter, until she reflects back on her relationship and realizes how her mother predicted this by the condition of the garden taken care of by her husband. She understands her mother finally and stands up to Ted, explaining to him how she was going to fight for everything in the divorce.

According to Sandra G. Shannon, Rose Maxon’s focuses are on “being a wife, mother and homemaker.” (154) Shannon states that Wilson places Rose as a conformed woman by being the nurturer but also demands herself some self-respect. She is loving, supportive, outspoken but inferior to her husband in some ways. Rose is not treated like a second-class citizen but is expected to be understanding and forgiving no matter how small or huge the wrong-doing is. Rose is a mixture of strong because she stayed with Troy even though he had an illegitimate child with another woman. She showed such strength when she took Troy’s daughter as her own to raise and told Troy he was a “womanless man.” She took Troy’s daughter as her own because she told Troy that her daughter is not to blame for her father’s actions. Women’s roles are defined by men still in the 1950s, (155) and she loves Troy enough to accept his flaws up until he confesses having a baby out of wedlock. Women may be forgiving because they know separation/divorce is looked highly down upon and women rely on their husbands financially. Also, women who are alone are less likely to succeed, and will run the risk of constantly meeting worse men. (155) When Troy gives Rose the unexpected news about him becoming a father through another woman, Rose first is in shock; asks why did he wait eighteen years to do that and Rose gets angry. She is in

Although Roselily’s life in Mississippi before marriage may not have been the greatest but, she is comfortable with it, and is scared of the change that is about to occur. As the preacher is finishing the ceremony she thinks” She wants to live for free for once. But she doesn’t know quite what that means.” She knows that once she gets married, between being a housewife and his restrictive religion she will

Not only does Rose support her family but she also accepts and cares for Troy’s extended family. Living in the 1950's was a difficult time for an African-American woman, but Rose saw this difficulty as a challenge and worked to succeed. Rose often refers to the changing-times; the new opportunities for blacks. Troy, however, believes that the black man will always be inferior. Lyons, Troy's son from a previous marriage, always come around whenever he wants something according to Troy. However, Rose sees Lyons asking for money and help as a plea for guidance, but Troy refuses both to him. Rose takes a dominating role in this instance as she demands Troy to give Lyons the money (ten dollars); with it a story of guidance about responsibility. Without Rose stepping in, Lyons wouldn’t have been told the real reason for why his father hadn’t been there for his childhood. Rose works scrupulously to form a good relationship between Troy and his son Lyons, even though she is not Lyons’s mother.

First, in his article, Rose sets the scene by efficiently using personal anecdotes as an essential tactic to invoke the emotions of the readers to argue his claim. Rose introduces his readers to his concept by describing two short stories, on being his mother Rosie Rose and she worked as a waitress, left school to provide for her family, and used her memory and coordination when managing the diner and its customers. (pg.1033) This automatically sets the tone that the story is informal and personal, which he uses to invite the audience in emotionally and involve the reader. Namely, Rose continued the story by describing another anecdote of his uncle, Joe Meranglio, who

Well come on…I’ll make a batch of biscuits,” (26). Rose steadily tries to be the best mother that she can be for the Maxson family and not just take care of herself. She represents the primary care giver of the Maxson household by cooking for everybody and bringing the whole family in together to eat. “Okay, Troy…you’re right. I’ll take care of your baby for you…cause…like you say…she’s innocent…and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child has got a hard time,” (79). By Rose saying and doing this, it just proves how loving and tender hearted she is. Even though Rose is not the child’s mother, she still wants what is best for the baby. “Stop that yelling. You gonna wake up Raynell. I just got her to sleep,” (80). This shows that Rose has fully accepted Raynell as her daughter. Rose does not see Raynell as just Troy’s daughter but also hers too. Rose says, talking about Lyons, “Let the boy have ten dollars, Troy,” (19). This shows how loving and caring Rose acts towards Troy’s son. Rose and Troy clearly do not have enough money to be giving it out, but she encourages Troy to give some to Lyons because she cares about everyone. Rose is a very good hearted person who uses all of her characterisitcs to keep everyone in the family together and keep them in check.

Rose begins the article describing his mother as a waitress and how she activates her

Rose conveys his argument by describing the education background of both his mother and uncle. His mother did not have much of an educational background. She dropped out of school in the 7th grade and

Social exchange theory includes the following concepts: success, stimulus, value, deprivation, satiation, aggression, and approval. Homans defined each of these concepts explicitly in his book and various articles. The success concept which he defines is the principle of reward. (Homans, 1983, p. 33) While stimulus is defined when a stimulus presents itself and it resembles a previously rewarded activity, that individual is likely to repeat that action again. (Homans, 1950, Chapter 4) Homans defined value as a system of rewards and punishments. (Homans, 1983, p. 32) Deprivation and satiation was defined as the more often a reward has recently been received, the less valuable further rewards become. And if forced for a long time to go without a certain reward, an individual will lose interest and move on. (Homans, 1983, p. 33) Lastly, aggression and approval falls under the principle of distributive justice. When behavior does not receive the expected reward the response is anger. Yet, when the individual receives a greater reward than what is expected or does not receive punishment he will be pleased. (Homans, 1950, Chapter 4).

As she was a young girl, she did not notice the changes in her surroundings, and what was happening in the war, costed Rose her life. As an innocent child, she never noticed the signs posted on the walls, about the Holocaust, or never noticed the trucks that were filled with Jews. She only focused on simple things, such as the color of the river, and a young boy. Although, through the story, Rose's personality changes. Towards the end, Rose starts to notice the problems around her town, including finding a group of Jewish prisoners in a concentration camp. Finding this area, she consistently comes back, yet this act ends up getting her killed. Conclusively, Rose Blanche's curiosity ended up getting her killed in a war tragedy. Although she was a sweet child, her actions had benefited her in a negative

One theory of the formation of a romantic relationship is one put forward by Byrne and Clore called the reward/need satisfaction model. They suggested that we have relationships long term because we find them rewarding, or we don’t like the prospect of being alone.  The rewards from a partner can include friendship, love and sex, or the particular person is associated with pleasant situations so then we want to spend time with them and form a romantic relationship. This can also include the satisfaction from a relationship with a person of high social status, as it would make you look good to other people. These needs can differ from person to person

People constantly evaluate the rewards and costs of their relationship as well as the rewards and costs of interaction with another individual. Rewards and costs can be tangible, such as money or gifts, or psychological, such as social support or intellectual stimulation (Unger & Johnson 604). According to Unger and Johnson, “if the reward/cost balance is more favorable than that of other potential relationships, the person will remain in the relationship, if the costs outweigh the rewards and an alternative relationship with more favorable outcomes is available, the person will leave the existing relationship in favor of the alternative” (604). Yet each reward and cost is different to each individual. To better understand reward and costs is to better understand each individual.

The exchange theory is a psychological theory that helps individuals make choices based on the costs and benefits of the situation. The person visualizes the outcome to help make a decision, most times the benefits are good outcomes and the costs are what they might be losing. The more the benefits outweigh the costs, the easier and the more efficient the outcome will be. In the novel, Road Ends by Mary Lawson, the main characters take many life changing decisions by using the exchange theory.

To explain human relationships further, the social exchange theory can be another definite explanation to help distinguish how we feel to be with other people and how one perceives to be with them, either to rekindle their relationship or to question the decisions that make to be in a relationship (Kelley 1959). The social exchange theory can be defined as a term that allows behaviour to be exchanged to allow a relationship between two people to happen (Huston et al., 2013). An individual social life involves interactions between two people which can be viewed as social exchanges in terms of costs and benefits (Nakagawa et al., 2013). By taking the view of human relationships the social exchange theory argues that individuals engage in a cost benefit analysis which forms their relationship with others (Milkie et al., 2004). When the costs and benefits are equal in a relationship, it is defined as equitable (Siddiqui 2008). Moreover, romantic relationships may be difficult for some people as it involves interpersonal skills in order to make them mutually satisfying therefore requires constant maintenance. Recently, Psychologists have begun to look at the breakdown of relationships and the characteristics which requires them to fail. The breakdown of relationship is a theory which explains the failure of certain human relationships and the factors that may be involved such as lack