In every day go along with the flow and follow established norms of proper conduct, citizens pursue a form of generalized exchange whereby the good of the community is pursued. This section interrogates the concept of power and its weak presence in symbolic interactionist theory, and then goes into the theorys conceptions of inequality. [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). More recently, Monica Whitman (2021) has shown that a strong norm of reciprocity will have powerful effects leading to social trust and generalized exchange for the betterment of the group. [1] This theory is elaborated by Samuel Bacharach and Edward Lawler (1980, 1981; Cook and Rice ) as power being the inverse of the number of valued alternatives that one may have in the sense of not being dependent on the relationship with the other. And the subordinates react to oppressive othering in a number of different ways. In the end, I conclude that both Athens and Mead are right but both are also incomplete. The merit-based elites may protect the less able elites, and the discriminated subordinates with abilities may encourage the deferential people with hope. 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. In generalized exchange, there are five different types (Ekeh 1974: 50; Janoski 1998: 82-85). First, Helen Hilton marries a musician who then becomes a factory worker. The second type of exchange is generalized exchange. One important type of restricted exchange involves an important time dimension (see 2 in Table 5.1). The low-status people will have negative generalized others vis--vis the high-status othering persons. For example, consider the following: In Chapel Hill in the early 2000s, an African-American nurse promises to buy her daughter a dress for the prom, but her choice at a reasonable price at the department store is deemed mundane by her daughter. However, Strauss does not go far with this conception of bargaining as it might appear in political action. 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. Power in Symbolic Interactionism via Social Exchange Theory. In row 5 (items 13, 14, and 15) people may be of low rank because of accidents or bad luck. Beverly Johnson combined bonding and bridging capital to maintain family solidarity and to advance her husbands career (since the husbands father died early, this limited greater bridging capital) both through the absence of the father and the tendency for widows sociality being restricted (i.e., there is no husband to promote and her lowered income makes the husbands mother a bit downwardly mobile). 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. This type of exchange is favored by rational choice proponents and economists who see it as the paramount exchange that exists in markets. 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 . For example, consider the following: In Chapel Hill in the early 2000s, an African-American nurse promises to buy her daughter a dress for the prom, but her choice at a reasonable price at the department store is deemed mundane by her daughter. The purposes of these oppressions are boundary maintenance processes to indicate that the oppressors belong to a superior group and the subordinates belong to a less worthy group. [2] Later on, Don Corleone does call in the favor to take care of a dead body using the mans funeral parlor. However, theories of political sociology cannot assume unrelenting social mobility for everyone since most social mobility is relational. 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. But it doesn't just stop there. Third, the eldest son of a middle-class family, George Wilson, becomes a personal injury lawyer and is quite successful. The merit-based high-status persons and the low-skilled degraded low-status persons will most likely stay where they are in the social structureone feeling superior and the other deferential. In it, gifts can be used to benefit the whole community through philanthropy, but they also may serve to create patrimonial relationships. 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. 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. Although the favored Joe Jr. died in World War II, Joseph Kennedys sons John F., Robert and Ted Kennedy had peak political careers. And you know that the funeral director will not only do it to repay his debt, but if he does not, the Don will most certainly take a pound of flesh. This generalized exchange does not demand immediate payback and helping one may lead to them helping another so that the initiator of the exchange does not expect immediate payback. He questions George Herbert Meads predication of symbolic interaction as being based on sociation, which is the general consensual pursuit of cooperate social relations. Symbolic interactionism aims to understand human behavior by analyzing the critical role of symbols in human interaction. 2000; Sandstrom et al. However, there are some people who are always in the restricted exchange mode (e.g., what have you done for me lately?). 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. After describing the couples, the author develops a symbolic interactionist model to explain how the respondents made sense of their violence. Trust may develop. We discussed in class today that "Symbolic interactionism" is how gender differences are reinforced and institutionalized through the process of "socialization". 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. 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. Power and Inequality in Symbolic Interaction, 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. However, in this book, I find that they can be profitably put together or synthesized. In every day go along with the flow and follow established norms of proper conduct, citizens pursue a form of generalized exchange whereby the good of the community is pursued. Fourth, there are two kinds of group-to-group exchange. The daughter complains to her grandmother, who has been an underpaid domestic for many decades to a prominent old and respected family. However, I want to move Schwalbe et al.s view of inequality further in the direction of social mobility. This generalized exchange does not demand immediate payback and helping one may lead to them helping another so that the initiator of the exchange does not expect immediate payback. One could make a similar comment about the Bush family as a political dynasty (Baker 2008). Thus, social mobility is not just achieving skills by merit, but it is also about self-work or personhood about countering and converting elite processes of oppressive othering with generalized others. Exclusive group negotiations may be harder to maintain than overlapping negotiations. Third, the eldest son of a middle-class family, George Wilson, becomes a personal injury lawyer and is quite successful. A major difference between the two concerns how strategic people can be. (2000) provide a more nuanced view of oppressive othering by viewing different attributions with external and internal reactions from generalized others. However, this negotiation is rather loose and not involved with a formal assessment of power. [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). Rose Kennedy kept the family strongly united with frequent family gatherings (Patterson and Fagen 2020). They then become one of the largest legal firms in a 10 state area. In network terms, these processes are more reliant on strong ties than weak ties (Granovetter 1973). 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. Symbolic interactionism asks the question, what might happen when two people of different ethnic or racial . Social Exchange in Symbolic Interaction with Bonding and Bridging Capital. The end result is a more nuanced and extended theory of power in society with elements of motivation at the individual and group level. However, theories of political sociology cannot assume unrelenting social mobility for everyone since most social mobility is relational. In row 1 (items 1, 2 and 3) high status persons who feel that their status is based on ability engage in self-justified othering where they are validated, and they develop powerful virtual selves. Second, Beverly Johnson comes from an ethnic and lower-middle-class family and marries a man whose family has a prominent background. The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetuate differences in power: Symbolic Interactionism : Micro: One-to-one interactions and communications: . 2017; Sandstrom et al. Communicationthe exchange of meaning through language and symbolsis believed to be the way in which people make sense of their social worlds. It is a form of group exchange where one person gives to another, who then in turn gives to a third person. Chapter 11 "Gender and Gender Inequality" examines some of the arguments of feminist theory at great length. George Herbert Mead does not say much about power in his social psychological theory, and when encountering the topic, the authoritative symbolic interactionist text by Sandstrom, Lively, Martin and Fine (2014: 177-184) after a very brief review of the concept largely embraces the social exchange theory of Richard Emerson (1962) that sees power as dependency. 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 same would apply to group exchange. Exclusive group negotiations may be harder to maintain than overlapping negotiations. The two types of behavior have two different types of exchange. Generalized exchange looks to the betterment of the group as a whole, while restricted exchange is about the individual gaining for themselves. Afterwards, he says that no payment is necessary, but: Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. However, there are some people who are always in the restricted exchange mode (e.g., what have you done for me lately?). 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. 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. 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. They will develop positive generalized others with the subcultures that they may produce. [3] Also, similar processes can develop with a tight knit group of friends from high school or college. These people are very self-confident and quite connected. However, Strauss does not go far with this conception of bargaining as it might appear in political action. One important type of restricted exchange involves an important time dimension (see 2 in Table 5.1). Their chances of positive mobility are greater. 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. This is presented in table 5.2 along with material from Jonathan Turner and Jan Stets (2004). Beverly Johnson combined bonding and bridging capital to maintain family solidarity and to advance her husbands career (since the husbands father died early, this limited greater bridging capital) both through the absence of the father and the tendency for widows sociality being restricted (i.e., there is no husband to promote and her lowered income makes the husbands mother a bit downwardly mobile). 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. The low-status people will have negative generalized others vis--vis the high-status othering persons. Exchange theory then leads to bargaining processes, which will be discussed more fully in chapter 9 on the macro-level. The second one is how ethnicity and race are socially constructed. Social exchange theory and symbolic interactionism are often thought of polar opposites, and in some ways they are. 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