Social Exchange Theory: Song Analysis

The media, especially songs on the radio, often reflect many different types of preconceptions of relationships. This can be seen in a lot of modern songs one might hear on the radio. For this assignment I choose to use the social exchange theory to analyze a song that fit with what that theory describes. According to the textbook, social exchange theory is “the idea that people’s feelings about a relationship depend on their perceptions of its rewards and costs, the kind of relationship they deserve, and their chances for having a better relationship with someone else” (Aronson, Wilson, Sommers, & Akert, 2016, p. 520). The social psychologists that first discovered the social exchange theory are John Thibaut and Harold Kelley. The song I choose
This can be seen in the lyrics “She told me in the morning, she don't feel the same about us in her bones, it seems to me that when I die these words will be written on my stone” (Bunetta, J., et al, 2013). When two individuals are in a relationship for a while they might fall out of love with one another. This is very common in young adults because they are trying to figure out who they are as an individual, while at the same time trying to care for another individual. It is often very hard to for them to truly know what they want in a relationship, especially trying to decide what the other individual’s expectations are for their
This can be seen within the lyrics: “The story of my life, I take her home I drive all night to keep her warm and time is frozen. The story of my life, I give her hope, I spend her love until she's broke inside the story of my life” (Bunetta, J., et al, 2013). I got the impression from these lines that the guy in this song takes his entire night to take the girl home, keep her warm, and give her hope but the girl does not care because she is broke and done with the relationship. He does and does for this girl but gets nothing in return.
In the lyrics “Leave my heart open, but it stays right here in its cage” (Bunetta, J., et al, 2013) I got the impression that the guy is feeling hurt that the girl does not care for him the same way she does, so he is saying he has caged up his feelings. I also thought this was him saying that for the next relationship he might try to get into it will be harder for him to open up because he has caged up his heart so he will get as hurt