PREDICTING POWER IN EXCHANGE NETWORKS - A BRIEF-HISTORY AND INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUES

Network exchange theory addresses the central question of sociological theory, how to predict activity from structure. This paper introduces a special edition of Social Networks which includes papers offering alternative theories. The edition is exhaustive for it contains all recent developments in the formal theory of exchange networks. This paper introduces the reader to past historical development, the competition between power-dependence theory and elementary theory as well as major research findings as they relate to that development. The paper concludes with a new 'null-inclusion-exclusion' typology for network connection which is far more general than the 'negative-positive' typology previously used.