Get George C Homans Elementary Forms Of Social Behavior 2nd - Soc Iastate

Homans is well known for his 1961 text, Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms, in which he expands upon several “propositions” and their connection to the likelihood of individuals to behave in a certain manner.

Homans uses the systemic model in examining small groups, which he described as “internal systems” facing “external systems.” The ultimate goal for the sociologist, ing to Homans, was to “move from a study of the social system as it is exemplified in single groups toward a study of the system as it is exemplified ...

Homans theory, which is an exchange theory, is based on a few propositions about the fundamental actions of individuals, and how values, memory, and expectations affect their behavior.

2. Homan's Theory: ing to George C. Homans, “The more activities persons share, the more numerous will be their interactions and the stronger will be their shared activities and sentiments, and the more sentiments people have for one another, the more will be their shared activities and interactions.”

George C. Homans's great conviction was that sociology begin its analysis from the observed behaviour of individuals, and not from roles, structures, institutions, and other abstractions. This is not to say that the latter are not real only that they are created by individuals.

Homans once summarized the theory by stating: Social behavior is an exchange of goods, material goods but also non-material ones, such as the symbols of approval or prestige. Persons that give much to others try to get much from them, and persons that get much from others are under pressure to give much to them.

Exchange theory, initially proposed by Homans (1958, 1974), Blau (1964), and Emerson (1976), aims to provide a general theoretical framework for studying emergent human actions. The concepts of stimulus and response, along with other behaviorist principles, are mobilized to explain how human interactions evolve.