Proletariat bottles up Bourgeoisie: Applying Social Exchange Theory in László’s Sátántangó

Abstract

The article explores László Krasznahorkai’s novel Sátántangó through the lens of George Homans’s Social Exchange Theory to delineate how humans somehow possess both proletarian and bourgeois instincts by trial and error. Man simultaneously, embodies good and evil, and can hide one and unmask the other for his/her own benefits according to situation. Through the application of Homans’s theory, the analysis of the characters reveals how some common individuals can easily morph themselves into the figure of the capitalist. Specifically Irimiás, Schmidt and Futaki prove through their intentions that any ordinary person, who presents to be very good and honest, can turn out to be a cheater and manipulator only to maximize his/her own benefits. The research unearths that man schleps both proletariat and bourgeoisie alongside, proving these are not two different camps of society, rather it is nature which is coexistent in human beings.