Social Exchange in Development

In every human culture, relationships are predicated on giving and receiving commodities, both tangible (food and money) and intangible (love and respect). Social exchange theories describing relationships in such terms encompass a diverse array of perspectives, such as interdependence, equity, investment, contingent responsiveness, and social coordination. This volume addresses the developmental origins and implications of social exchange processes. Despite the widespread acceptance of social exchange theories by social psychologists and their subsequent application to adult social relationships, social exchange has received little attention from scholars of social development. To bridge the gap, the volume editors engaged seven distinguished scholars to address the social exchange divide between social psychology and developmental psychology. The result is a collection about relationships and their development. Specific chapters describe the development of social exchange norms and behaviors in terms of friend and family relationships, morality, dynamical systems, evolution, and gender.
These descriptions of how social exchange processes shape and are shaped by development present a valuable addition to the science of close relationships. This is the 95th issue of the Jossey-Bass series "New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development."