Social Matching over Multiple Reinforcement Domains: An Explanation of Local Exchange Imbalance
L. N. Gray, W. I. Griffith, Maximilian H. von Broembsen, M. J. Sullivan · Social Forces · 1982
A growing body of research suggests the appropriateness of social analogues to such psychological constructions as the “matching law” and the “law of effect” Using such analogues and their appropriate social applications we are able to show that apparent situations of inequity or exchange imbalance are actually often the result of balancing mechanisms which operate when several reinforcement domains are simultaneously operative in social situations. Thus imbalances may only appear for local reinforcement domains while they are balanced over the total social situation, rendering the total system equitable. Such considerations may explain the apparently pervasive nature of some inequitable social structures.