Social Exchange and Moral Development: Dimensions of Self, Self-Image, and Identity

Abstract

This paper argues that the exchange theories of sociological utilitarianism should be combined with ethical theories premised on the intrinsic value of human life in order to understand more completely the components of human interaction. This is necessary because each theory relies on a distinct social-psychological dimension of human behavior: ethical theories explicate the concept of the "self," which psychologically functions as evidence that the individual "exists," whereas social exchange theories explicate the narcissistic concept of "self-image," defined as the pleasure and/or pain of existence. It is further argued that a particularized combination of self and self-image produces an individual's concept of "identity." The value of integrating these concepts into an analysis of human interaction is most easily seen when applied to traumatic human interaction. Here the resulting psychological damage can be effectively analyzed and better understood by reference to these three dimensions: self, based on a principle of ethics; self-image, based on a principle of utility; and identity, based on a particularized combination of self and self-image. This treatment of traumatic human interaction synthesizes literature on social exchange (especially the work of George Homans), ethical theories of human value (especially the work of Lawrence Kohlberg), literature on trauma (especially that of Robert Jay Lifton), as well as psychological theories of self, self-image, and identity (especially the work of Kernberg, Kohut, and Erikson), thereby contributing a new perspective to our understanding of the bases of human interaction.