Inquiry into human behavior has been centered on the analysis of 'purposeful' behavior, 'performed' behavior and 'unperformed' behavior. For example, each corresponds to sociological functionalism, micro-economic theory or behavioral psychology and game theory respectively. However, such an inquiry is still lacking consideration of other two aspects, namely, the 'on-going' and the 'should-be' behavior. So long as we omit these two aspects, our understanding of human behavior would stay incomplete.
In this paper, attention is mainly paid to the Exchange Theory which has been developed and accumulated until recently. Why we choose this rather than other theories is simply because of its great merit. It throws light on all the above five aspects of human behavior. In the first part, we trace back the development of the Exchange Theory. Four areas are identified as functionalism (sociology and anthropology), interactionism, psychology, and decision theory and game theory. Theoretical characteristics of the Exchange Theory is broadly defined. It grasps human behavior and social relations in terms of exchange of various goods and services. When we explore the attempts which take this point of view, particularly those of P.M. Blau's, G.C. Homans', and R. Emerson's, we note four common basic concepts, namely, party, reward, cost, and profit and its evaluation. As these concepts are sometimes expressed in different ways according to different theorists, we wish to seek for shared conceptualization of them. And finally, by way of re-systematizing the basic principles and patterns in the Exchange Theory, we hope to clarify some characteristic features outlining it.
Far from being an isolated framework, the Exchange Theory has close relationship to other previous sociological theories with some overlapping boundaries. As this approach focuses on the 'on-going' and the 'should-be' behavior, and at the same time searches out sociological ambivalence lying beneath the surface of everyday life, therefore here lies its uniqueness as a method of inquiry. Although there are some limitations for its application, this approach clearly posesses hopeful prospects of development. It offers a big step in closing up the on-going activities occuring in the 'real and living' social life.
