Status Processes in Social Exchange Networks

University South Carolina Research Foundation, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

SES-0216804 PI (s) Shane Thye Barry Markovsky David Willer University of South Carolina The relationship between social status and the allocation of societal benefits is a major research concern in Sociology. The PIs will conduct research that is at the intersection of two social psychological theories-Network Exchange Theory and status Characteristics and Expectations States theory-that have independently evolved over the last 25 years. The research investigates how status characteristics (such as age and education) affect the distribution of power in exchange relations. Specifically, the PIs seek to answer two fundamental questions regarding status in social exchange relation. First, does "performance expectations" (generalized anticipations regarding the abilities for one's self and partner) produced by age and education differences generate power for higher status actors? Second, is the purchasing power of money, as a commodity of exchange, is altered by the status of the buyer and/or seller? The PIs posit that status characteristics induce power by altering the "status value" of exchangeable good and/or the "performance expectations" actors hold for one another. The investigators will conduct a series of exchange experiments, in which college students bargain with one another via computers located in separate rooms. Status information regarding the partner is systematically manipulated and observations recorded on how this information alters the outcome of the negotiations. More generally, this research expands our knowledge regarding how status information alters how power is exercised.