ix In sociology, not only the explicandum - what we try to explain - but also the explicans - in what terms we explain it - is social... I assume that social structures (and, indeed, all structures composed of subunits) have emergent properties that cannot be understood on the basis of the properties of the subunits.

p.2 The aim of this book is to contribute to an understanding of social structure on the basis of an analysis of the social processes that govern the relations between individuals and groups. The basic question that is being raised is how social life becomes organized into increasingly complex structures of associations among men.

p.2 The problem is to derive the social processes that govern the complex structures of communities and societies from the simpler processes that pervade the daily intercourse among individuals and their interpersonal relations.

p.2-3 Two dangers must be avoided in such derivation of more complex from simpler social processes, and in the study of social structure generally - the Scylla of abstract conceptions too remote from observable empirical reality and the Charybdis of reductionism that ignores emergent social and structural properties.

p.3 Emergent properties are essentially relationships between elements in a structure. The relationships are not contained in the elements, though they could not exist without them, and they define the structure... The study of social life is concerned with the relations among people and thus always with emergent properties in the broadest sense of the term. Often, however, social relations are simply treated as characteristics of individuals, no different from their other characteristics

p.4 Yet not only complex social structures but also patterns of interaction between individuals reveal emergent properties. The concept of social exchange directs attention to the emergent properties in interpersonal relations and social interaction.

p.5 Two conditions must be met for behavior to lead to social exchange. It must be oriented toward ends that can only be achieved through interaction with other persons, and it must seek to adapt means to further the achievement of these ends.

p.20 Although complex social systems have their foundation in simpler ones, they have their own dynamics with emergent properties.

p.42 What makes it enjoyable to... solve a chess problem even when nobody is there to offer social approval? It might be the result of a process that could be called reverse secondary reinforcement... The primary gratifications of human beings are originally contingent on, and become associated with, certain actions of others in their environment... These and related actions of other human beings become, in due course, intrinsic social rewards that act as secondary reinforcers for the individual's behavior... Since taking risks earns an individual social approval and respect, these secondary reinforcers stimulate him to look for challenges he can meet. The repeated association of meeting challenges and obtaining these social rewards makes meeting a challenge, through a process of reverse secondary reinforcement, intrinsically rewarding, motivating individuals to seek out challenging situations even when they are alone.

p.67 Men do not necessarily accept as valid the evaluations others make of them and their performance... Whether men grant or question the accuracy of an evaluation of themselves governs their reactions to the evaluator... If they question the validity of another's disapproval, it tends to make them annoyed with his lack of appreciation for their abilities rather than grateful for his helpful suggestions for improvement... the displeasure caused by disapproval makes it more likely for negative than for positive evaluations to be rejected.

p.88 Processes of social association can be conceptualized, following Homans' lead, "as an exchange of activity, tangible or intangible, and more or less rewarding or costly, between at least two persons." Social exchange can be observed everywhere once we are sensitized by this conception to it, not only in market relations but also in friendship and even in love... Neighbors exchange favors... politicians, concessions

p.91 "Social exchange," as the term is used here, refers to voluntary actions of individuals that are motivated by the returns they are expected to bring and typically do in fact bring from others.

p.112 Social exchange always entails elements of intrinsic significance for the participants... its focus is on benefits of some extrinsic value and on, at least, implicit bargaining for advantage

p.117-118 The definition of power... the ability of persons or groups to impose their will on others despite resistance through deterrence either in the forms of withholding regularly supplied rewards or in the form of punishment, inasmuch as the former as well as the latter constitute, in effect, a negative sanction. Three further implications should be noted. First, following Parsons, the concept of power is used to refer to an individual's or group's ability recurrently to impose his or its will on others, not to a single instance of influencing a decision of theirs, however important. Second, the punishment threatened for resistance, provided it is severe, makes power a compelling force, yet there is an element of voluntarism in power - the punishment could be chosen in preference to compliance, and it sometimes is - which distinguishes it from the limited case of direct physical coercion. Finally, power is conceptualized as inherently asymmetrical and as resting on the net ability of a person to withhold rewards from and apply punishments to others - the ability that remains after the restraints they can impose on him have been taken into account. Its source is one-sided dependence. Interdependence and mutual influence of equal strength indicate lack of power.

p.139 Power over others is greatly desired by many men, since it is a generalized means with the aid of which a large variety of objectives can be accomplished, and since the ability to impose one's will on others often comes to be valued in its own right. A man can demonstrate his power to himself and to the world by forcing others to take his threats seriously.

p.140 Power is undeniable, and its serious threats must be opposed, but unsuccessful opposition further strengthens it.

p.141 Power... can be invested at some risk to yield more power.

p.143 The satisfactions human beings experience in their social associations depend on the expectations they bring to them as well as on the actual benefits they receive in them.

p.165 The expectations of people govern the satisfactions they find in social life and hence their reactions to social experiences.

p.222-223 Power is the resource that permits an individual or group to coordinate the efforts of many others... The organization of collective effort mobilizes power.

p.283 Every species of conflict interferes with every other species in society at the same time, save only when their lines of cleavage coincide, in which case they reinforce one another... each new cleavage contributes to narrow the cross clefts, so that one might say that society is sewn together by its inner conflicts. Edward A. Ross, Principles of Sociology

p.284 The complex interplay between substructures gives the social structure encompassing them its fundamental characteristics and is the source of the dynamic forces governing it.

p.301 Opposition is a regenerative force that introjects new vitality into a social structure and becomes the basis of social reorganization. It serves as a catalyst or starting mechanism of social change

p.302 Opposition is here conceived as a generic social force, which takes many different forms... On an abstract theoretical level, opposition can be conceptualized in terms of the conflict between autonomy and interdependence of substructures in a macrostructure... substructures are dependent on each other, which means that changes in one lead to changes in the others.

p.304 it is the multitude of recurrently emerging and subsiding, less extreme, oppositions of diverse sorts that produces continual social change and reorganization in societies. Opposition... is a disturbing and divisive force that ultimately contributes to social stability and cohesion.

p.304 The new social arrangements instituted by successful opposition forces, or by established authorities in self-defense against the gathering opposition, typically create new dissatisfactions in due course, stimulating oppositions anew.

p.310 Opposition is a regenerative social force. It acts as a countervailing power against institutional rigidities and serves as a catalyst for social change and reorganization.