On Cook's Thought Of Exchange Networks

When Emerson's interesting in exchange networks was expanded from dyads to networks, social exchange theory emerged the new research direction which was called exchange network theory in the subsequent research. And Karen S. Cook is one of the leading researchers in the field. She, along with her teachers and colleagues, developed a series of pioneering work, such as the way of the exchange of social resources, power relationship between individuals or entities, generalized exchange issues and so on. This thesis aims at sorting out Cook's key thought of exchange network, and grasping the core meaning of exchange network theory.Cook is still engaged in the research on social exchange, social networks and trust. Based on the time order of her present papers or books, this thesis will sort out her thoughts from two aspects below: one is power theory; the other is generalized exchange networks and its related emotion research. The second chapter analyzes Cook's thought framework of exchange networks. Through learning her life, her thought and her works, the author tries to show a whole research framework. The key parts are the third chapter - power theory of exchange networks and the fourth chapter - generalized exchange networks. The former discusses many questions, such as the direct from dyads to networks, the types of network connections, power theory and so on; the latter analyzes the advantage of bridging two research traditions and studies the emotion issues of generalized exchange network,such as the role of commitment and trust under uncertainty.The last chapter evaluates her thought of exchange networks theory, and discusses the applicability of exchange networks in China. Although her research expands the scope of generalized exchange by using the laboratory set, it also is lack of the explanatory of the situation of reality.