Considerate Exchange: Exploring Social Exchange on Family Farms

Abstract

Much theory about economic action has emphasized tensions between exchange and care for others. Based on a mixed methods study of family farms, this article shows how considerateness may be conceptualized in social exchange theory and how such conceptualization facilitates research on interaction among close relations. The article shows how scholars may combine an exchange purpose typology with existent concepts of social exchange to analyze multiple dimensions of exchange. Data from family farms illustrate how various forms of exchange unfold among close relations. The article sheds light on actors’ management of emotional and moral ties in economic matters. It argues that social exchange theory has an unfulfilled potential in research on economic interaction among close relations.

Considerate Exchange: Exploring Social Exchange on Family Farms