The theory of social exchange is about the transference of resources that depend on trust and goodwill. The basis of it is one that originated from the post-positivist theory of understanding our world through a quantitative lens, with the recognition of humanistic influences on these empirical results. After the development of certain theories by both psychologists and social psychologists, this theory emerged to encompass the qualities of these different theories while including the previously aforementioned basis at its core. The goal of this was to address the bigger issue at large of understanding that transference and how this applies to relationships in a way that is explained with the values of costs and benefits. As a whole, it argues the existence of an economic approach to social relationships using those empirical results and the assumptions that humans are logical and motivated by self-interest. The part of the communication model that this focuses most on is decoding messages under the context provided by this theory and the undercurrent meaning influenced by the relationship that it provides.
According to Exploring Communication Theory by Floyd, et. all (2022), there are nine key concepts that make this up, some of which can be directly related to interdependence theory and equity theory (p.179). However, those first four are the voluntary transference that is social exchange, rewards, costs, and relational outcomes that are found by subtracting a relationship's costs from its rewards. The next two are the ones that come from Interdependence theory, and they are the comparison level and the comparison level of alternatives. To expand on this a bit more, the comparison level is the “realistic expectation of what you want and think you deserve from a relationship” (p. 184). While the comparison level of alternatives is the “assessment of how good or bad your current relationship is compared to your other options” (p.184). The final three concepts are directly related to the Equity theory and are most concerned with explaining how benefits in a relationship work. These are the principle of distributive justice which claims that the person who contributes most to a relationship receives the most benefits, under-benefited which claims a person receives less than they put into a relationship, and over-benefitted which claims a person receives more than they put into a relationship. There are seven overall claims to this theory but two that stand separate from other theories, the first being people who’re motivated to establish and sustain a relationship when the perceived rewards exceed the costs and the second being people who’re motivated to evolve or end a relationship when the perceived costs exceed the rewards. The next two claims are in relation to the theory of interdependence, with the first being that in a relationship a comparison level predicts satisfaction while the comparison level of alternatives predicts commitment. The final three claims relate to the equity theory where people who’re under-benefited “tend to experience anger, resentment, and sadness,” over-benefited “tend to experience guilt,” and “relational partners will seek to restore equity rather than remain in an inequitable relationship” (p.185).
One very prevalent topic in today’s music culture is the idea of parasocial relationships. Which is when someone feels as though they have a relationship with a person, celebrity, or character whom they do not know. These can be common but only get to the point of unhealthiness when the relationship begins to interfere with that someone’s real life or causes them to harass the subject of their attention. At which point, it becomes a problem that needs to be taken seriously for the safety of both parties. This kind of relationship can occur quite frequently in the music industry as people can often take the emotion or lyrics in a song personally especially if the topic discussed in a song is one that relates to their life. A scenario like this often has the potential to grow into both a healthy and unhealthy parasocial relationship depending on the person and their circumstances. This theory of social exchange is one that can relate to this by putting the problem of these relationships in the context of how they affect the individual who develops them and what this can mean for their lives. This theory really helps to frame how these parasocial relationships can affect someone in their day-to-day life. Oftentimes someone’s parasocial relationship may diminish over time, which can be explained through the lens of that person naturally seeking to restore equity rather than wanting to stay in that inequitable relationship. As it’s rather impossible to restore equity in a relationship with a person who’s never been met, that parasocial relationship could begin to diminish over time.
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