2019/05/23 by Karen S. Cook · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Social Power and Status Dynamics #Social and Cultural Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1002/9781405165518.wbeose034.pub2
openalex publication_date 2019/05/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
Abstract Richard Marc Emerson is best known for his work on social power, and subsequently his work on social exchange. In the early 1960s he published two highly significant papers on social power and social exchange that changed the way social scientists viewed social power. An important feature of his work was its focus on network positional determinants of power. This simple idea set the stage for the linkage between exchange theory and networks, which became a major focus of attention in the social sciences. He was recruited to the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington in 1965, where he served on the faculty until his premature death in 1982 at the peak of his academic career.