Relative power is the difference between your dependencies as compared to the other, and the others dependencies on you. They engage in counter-othering which is the angry rejection of the imposed reflected appraisals of high-status people that intend to demean and reject them. Medical doctors rising above homeopaths with the Flexner Report are a good example, but the process also applies to nurses seeking bachelors degrees to promote the status of RNs (Larson 1977; Abbott 1988). In row 4 (items 10, 11 and 12), people with low rank view their social position due to their lack of ability, and they engage in accepting the other imposed upon them by higher ranking people. . Power in Symbolic Interactionism via Social Exchange Theory. Social networks of kin and association in social mobility settings can occur in different formats according to bonding and bridging capital. Consequently, it is also important to focus on the higher status persons who are subject to downward mobility because they will also be highly defensive, resistant and even violent. For example, an individual receiving unemployment insurance promises to be ready and able to work, and to search for work and fail in order to receive the benefit. Their motto, Wilson and Wilson, For the People dominates the airwaves on TV and the internet decrying the greed of insurance companies. However, in tracking the patterns of social interaction to their troubling consequences, we heed the advice of an early interactionist, Blumer (1969), who urged symbolic interactionist researchers . Nonetheless, Athens does present symbolic interaction with an initial approach to power, which this theory sorely needs. And lastly, Joseph P. Kennedy was the son of a successful Irish businessman. However, if a family member ignores his brothers and sisters, he will need to make up for bonding capital with an extensive focus on bridging capital to a higher social class. Most often, more distant others are in restricted exchange relationships. Trust may develop. The end result is a more nuanced and extended theory of power in society with elements of motivation at the individual and group level. Social exchange is more generalized exchange as one might pursue in ones family or friend network. In a formula this might be: Your Power = 1 / Others dependencies on you, The others power = 1 / Your dependencies on the other, Relative power in = (Your power) (Others power). The two types are when the groups overlap or they do not. However, a weak norm of generalized reciprocity (i.e., restricted exchange) will create weaker social bonds. More market exchange, often among strangers, is restricted exchange where one expects immediate payback. Generalized exchange looks to the betterment of the group as a whole, while restricted exchange is about the individual gaining for themselves. Those families who engage in bridging capital to go outside their kinship groups are even more successful in bringing their families more advancement in social mobility. In their fearful position, they intensify their oppressive othering through discrimination with high intensity and emotion. The theories' techniques of observing, defining and analyzing society explain their differences and similarities. Generalized exchange is more community and group interested rather than self-interested. The study found that when the self or other became an object of reflection, emotions and behavior were discussed . They are not as subordinated as those with degraded status, and they may achieve some limited mobility. They see four factors as being important in the creation of inequality: oppressive othering, boundary maintenance, emotion management, and subordinate adaptations (Schwalbe et al. And the subordinates react to oppressive othering in a number of different ways. Generalized exchange was promoted by Malinowskis Kula Exchange in The Argonauts of the Western Pacific, and by studies of gift exchange with specified shells as the gift. Authors Alex Dennis 1 , Peter J Martin Affiliation 1 School of English, Sociology, Politics and Contemporary History, University of Salford, UK. Oppressive othering has been largely ignored as a general social process though labeling theory comes close to it. 2014: 185-86) speaks of a negotiated order and mentions bargaining. Through your interactions with the letters 'dog', you see this as a furry, four-legged canine. Similarly, Josh Pacewicz (2016) shows how the old rich partisans made philanthropic gifts to keep town members in their debt, but these donations are small fractions of their total wealth. In row 4 (items 10, 11 and 12), people with low rank view their social position due to their lack of ability, and they engage in accepting the other imposed upon them by higher ranking people. Recall, the Mafia Don played by Marlon Brando in the opening scene of The Godfather taking care of an Italian fathers wish to revenge the shabby treatment of his daughter by some Anglo-boys. In one way or another, George convinces his three brothers and one sister to also become personal injury lawyers. Although Boston elites tended to discriminate against the Irish, some Irish social entrepreneurs become more powerful over time. The middle category of high and low status persons could move up or down depending on the circumstances. Also, Richard Titmus in the The Gift Relationship (1997) describes the difference between exchanging blood based on it being a gift or being paid for the donation. However, I want to move Schwalbe et al.s view of inequality further in the direction of social mobility. Helen Hilton engaged in the least bridging capital to higher social classes. The daughter complains to her grandmother, who has been an underpaid domestic for many decades to a prominent old and respected family. Exchange theory then leads to bargaining processes, which will be discussed more fully in chapter 9 on the macro-level. Oppressive othering penetrates the generalized other of Mead and indicates that people may promote or justify their positions in society by providing looking glass-self messages to others that they are inferior, inept, unworthy or otherwise inferior to themselves. The other form of strategic exchange is much narrower in scope and as a result it is called restricted exchange. And downward mobility is much more painful than lack of mobility. They must struggle to keep their high status. One could make a similar comment about the Bush family as a political dynasty (Baker 2008). For instance, Anselm Strauss (1978; Strauss et al. In other words, if you constantly depend on another person for food, income, entertainment and shelter (e.g., a child to a parent, or a worker to the managers of a company town), while you supply none of these and other values to the other, then your other has a high amount of power over you since they could deny you these values. While her husbands father dies soon after they are married, she entertains guests with the purpose of advancing her husbands sales career in business machines. Search in book: Search Contents. [1] I use exchange theory since it is better suited to my purposes than Collins rather short discussion of power and status rituals (2002: 111-114; 348-349). There is a bond but it is contingent on tit-for-tat exchange. Social Exchange in Symbolic Interaction with Bonding and Bridging Capital. These may be negotiated by a leader but the followers know the terms of the agreement and are quick to point out any violations. For example, an individual receiving unemployment insurance promises to be ready and able to work, and to search for work and fail in order to receive the benefit. Thus, the social mobility process is not just a reaction to blockages, but it is a creative process of external valuation through generalized others, and internal identification through self-processes. Therefore structural sources of redefinition are ignored." (Term paper on Symbolic Interaction Theory, 2008). Reading across the tables columns, the first three rows represent higher status persons, and the latter three rows are lower status persons. This involves two aspects of networking. Following Goffman and bridging Mead and Athens, there seem to be two modes of behavior: (1) a general form of sociation where people generally intend to get along with each other as friends and associates, and (2) a strategic form of interaction that looks more like bargaining behavior where one has a sense of seeking specific monetary or other gains. We do not have to trade caring for power, and for the most part, we can see these two forces as being consubstantial in society. 2014: 46-47; Reynolds 1987). However, there are some people who are always in the restricted exchange mode (e.g., what have you done for me lately?). The grandmother mentions the specific dress that the young girl wants at the most expensive boutique in town, and the scion she works for says, I know the owner of the store; I can talk to her. The grandmother then tells her granddaughter that the dress has been marked down by 70% of the original price so that it is the same price as the department store dress. These can be seen in birthday parties in a family (group to individual that is closed by family members) or birthday parties at work where the exact people in the group may be constantly changing as employees come and go. For instance, if the exchange takes place repeatedly over time, norms evolve about the relationship. There are also many examples of people gaining great wealth or political influence through more restricted exchange. In row 6 (items 16, 17 and 18) lower status persons with perhaps certain abilities and talents that they themselves recognize view their low status as being due to discrimination and bias coming from higher status persons. Their chances of positive mobility are greater. Reading across the tables columns, the first three rows represent higher status persons, and the latter three rows are lower status persons. Communicationthe exchange of meaning through language . It is a further question of whether these negotiations or social bargains are involved with restricted or generalized exchange. Fourth, there are two kinds of group-to-group exchange. They largely do not see their bad luck as deserved but nonetheless it is what it is. They will often engage with higher ranked persons with cooperation and attempts at patronage and opportunism. Third, the eldest son of a middle-class family, George Wilson, becomes a personal injury lawyer and is quite successful. Among her kin, she aims to keep the family together for over 50 years with parties with over 60 people. Each one of these families utilized various aspects of generalized exchange in what they perceived as their social mobility prospects. First, in chain exchange (item 7) one person gives to another who then gives to a third party, and this continues to include more and more people as in pay it forward. Second, there are individual to closed group and open group exchanges (items 8 and 9). It integrates a bargaining theory of power into symbolic interactionism, and alters the symbolic interactionist discussion of power by putting it into a context of social exchange . Political sociology can use these exchange processes to show how various political interactions can be negotiated. One might say that this looks a bit like Robert Mertons theory of deviance (1938); however, the big difference is that Merton focused on blockages that exist but said little about the motivation and process by which they are accepted or overcome, and nothing about the emotions that they generate. In restricted exchange, there are six different types from individual to various types of group and societal exchanges (1, 3 to 6 in Table 5.1) (Ekeh 1974: 46-52; Janoski 1998: 77-82). Symbolic interaction theory analyzes society by addressing the subjective meanings that people impose on objects, events, and behaviors. The grandmother mentions the specific dress that the young girl wants at the most expensive boutique in town, and the scion she works for says, I know the owner of the store; I can talk to her. The grandmother then tells her granddaughter that the dress has been marked down by 70% of the original price so that it is the same price as the department store dress. They have deference and may have shame, but they seek to avoid these emotions by building negative subcultures where they are accepted with their deficiencies. More market exchange, often among strangers, is restricted exchange where one expects immediate payback. According to Macionis, symbolic interactionism is "a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of everyday interactions . As we have seen with the Trump-base, many of these people state I want my country back and Make America Great again. While one might self-righteously declare them as unjustified, they do not agree, and they are a political force to be reckoned with. Exchange theory then leads to bargaining processes, which will be discussed more fully in chapter 9 on the macro-level. The low-status people will have negative generalized others vis--vis the high-status othering persons. While her husbands father dies soon after they are married, she entertains guests with the purpose of advancing her husbands sales career in business machines. For instance, Anselm Strauss (1978; Strauss et al. Collins theory is based on people being unequal in their resources, which links to power resources theory but he is a bit vague about the connection. Or if the exchange is to take place over a long period of time, perhaps for loans and bond purchases, the arrangement is firmly structured with a contract that covers many different aspects of the exchange. They actively construct a generalized other that recognizes their abilities and rejects oppressive othering, and they often will create positive sub-cultures among other low status but talented people that reflect their own more positive views (through ressentiment which was discussed earlier). However, in this book, I find that they can be profitably put together or synthesized. Addressing systemic inequalities within the . . In a sense, they are saying I want my social mobility back or I dont want others to be rising above me with their own social mobility. On the other hand, those on the bottom may make the claim that upward mobility has no effect on others at the top, but relationally, this is not the case. The merit-based elites may protect the less able elites, and the discriminated subordinates with abilities may encourage the deferential people with hope. The exchange is usually short (money paid for material objects, knowledge or personal services) and both parties are self-interested. Although the favored Joe Jr. died in World War II, Joseph Kennedys sons John F., Robert and Ted Kennedy had peak political careers. Instead Athens prefers to see the pursuit of power as the basic motivating force for human beings and their groups. There are some strong inclinations toward bargaining theory in symbolic interactionist theory. In their fearful position, they intensify their oppressive othering through discrimination with high intensity and emotion. All of the families used internal generalized exchange which can be referred to as bonding capital (Putnam 2000, 2020). And the Kennedy example, which of course is well known, shows how promotion can even lead to the Presidency of the United States. Lexington KY, 40506-0027859.257.8354, Power and Inequality in Symbolic Interaction, Online Graduate Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion, Social Psychology of Citizens and Subjects: Generalized Others and the Pathways to Inequality and Social Structure, Symbolic Interactionist Theory Revised for Political Sociology, Interactional Ritual Chains and Differential Association, From Generalized Others to Social Networks and Groups to Social Structure and Culture. Generalized exchange looks to the betterment of the group as a whole, while restricted exchange is about the individual gaining for themselves. Gender inequality is almost always prominent towards a female rather than towards a male. We focus on how an interactionist analysis of emotions has. Economists would like to apply restricted exchange to all types of social exchange (e.g., Gary Beckers rational account of marriages and partnerships, and also sociobiological theories that see couples maximizing their gene pools for reproduction). The daughter complains to her grandmother, who has been an underpaid domestic for many decades to a prominent old and respected family. The two types are when the groups overlap or they do not. The same would apply to group exchange. But on the other hand, the one large factory owner who does not give to the community was ostracized from society and politics. But it is the high ranking but protected people and the low-ranking discriminated people who are the most likely to engage in social mobility conflicts. In row 2 (items 4, 5 and 6) high ranking people have largely inherited their rank by ascriptive principles and they rely on their traditional positions but may need to engage in defensive othering and internalization, In row 3 (items 7, 8 and 9), some people have high rank due to bias and discrimination and they are quite insecure and very much subject to downward mobility. While her husbands father dies soon after they are married, she entertains guests with the purpose of advancing her husbands sales career in business machines. In network terms, these processes are more reliant on strong ties than weak ties (Granovetter 1973). Michael Schwalbe and five others present a theory of critical interactionism on how inequalities are created in society, and these can also be related to social mobility. But it is the high ranking but protected people and the low-ranking discriminated people who are the most likely to engage in social mobility conflicts. However, I want to move Schwalbe et al.s view of inequality further in the direction of social mobility. It integrates a bargaining theory of power into symbolic interactionism, and alters the symbolic interactionist discussion of power by putting it into a context of social exchange and types of social mobility. However, theories of political sociology cannot assume unrelenting social mobility for everyone since most social mobility is relational. But again, the social mobility boundary is fought most between row 3 of the vulnerable high-status people, and row 6 of the discriminated against but talented low-status persons. Third, there are individual to societal exchanges whereby an individual agrees to various terms with a larger societal group. Political sociology can use these exchange processes to show how various political interactions can be negotiated. Third, there are individual to societal exchanges whereby an individual agrees to various terms with a larger societal group. 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