Foa's resource theory

Answer 1

This theory, developed by Foa, maintains that we fundamentally exchange 6 types of resources: love, status, service, information, goods, money. These types of resources vary by the degree of their concreteness/abstractness and by the degree of their unversalisticness/particularlisticness. If a type of resource is universalistic, it means that it maintains the same value regardless who the giver is. Likewise, it is considered as particularlistic if its value depends on who gave the resource.

Based on Foa's theory, love is the most particularlistic type of resource. Imagine that a stalker approached to you expressing his love--you wouldn't value what he has to offer. Love stands somewhere in the middle between abstractness and concreteness because it can be expressed by feelings of caring but also by concrete objects such as rings and gifts.

Status and Service are also particularlistic types of resource, next to love. Status is a type of resource that can is expressed by respect, so it's abstract. Service takes the form of a concrete type of resource.

Foa categorizes objects and information as unversalistic types of resources because they are valued no matter who the giver is. One criticism to this, however, is that the value of information can depend based on its provider's authority and credibility. Information takes an abstract form (unless it is presented in graphs and statistics) and objects, concrete.

Money is the most universalistic of course because its value is not affected by specific characteristics of the giver. Foa mentions that money is between concreteness and abstractness, one point that I myself could not fully understand because, money, to me, seems fairly concrete.