Marcel Mauss

Quelle est la r gle de droit et d'int r t qui, dans les soci t s de type arri r ou archa que, fait que le pr sent re u est obligatoirement rendu ? Quelle force y a-t-il dans la chose qu'on donne qui fait que le donataire la rend ? Consid r comme le p re de l'anthropologie fran aise, Marcel Mauss introduit dans cet essai la notion de "fait social total", les changes et plus particuli rement le don y tant ainsi con us comme un ph nom ne social qui recouvre la fois une dimension conomique, politique, religieuse et culturelle. C'est dans son Essai sur le don -- toujours actuel pr s d'un si cle apr s sa publication -- que sa notion de "fait social total" rev t sa forme la plus labor . Il y traite notamment du concept de mana, c'est- -dire d'une force qui contient le Sacr et qui est pour lui pr sente dans toutes les formes archa ques de don et d' change. Que ce soit dans le processus d'accumulation et de destruction de biens (le potlatch des populations indig nes d'Am rique du Nord) ou dans les changes de dons de l'aire polyn sienne (le kula d crit par Bronislaw Malinowski), il s'agit d'identifier "quelle force pr sente dans l'objet donn pousse le donateur le rendre". Cette force n'est pas une valeur mat rielle ni conomique, elle est en elle-m me la raison d' tre de l' change fondamental qui se fait avec les esprits des morts et des dieux. Outre son apport incontournable aux sciences sociales, l'Essai sur le don influencera nombre d'intellectuels et d' crivains comme entre autres Claude L vi-Strauss, Roger Caillois, Georges Bataille, ...

Dans ce classique de la sociologie de la connaissance, Mauss et Durkheim ne s'attaquent rien de moins qu'au projet de r crire la table kantienne des cat gories: la ma trise des jugements logiques qu'ils rendent possibles ne sont pas le fruit des seules forces de l'individu, mais ont une origine sociale. Cette hypoth se, ils la testent sur les concepts de genres et d'esp ces, et plus g n ralement sur l'activit scientifique de classes. Ils entendent ainsi tablir qu'en Am rique du Nord et chez les Aborig nes d'Australie, tout autant que dans le syst me divinatoire chinois, stratification sociale et genres naturels primitifs se font cho; on ne saurait classer les choses sans appartenir des soci t s structur es. On comprend le profit tirer de ce constat pour mieux appr hender les activit s scientifiques modernes.

The Gift is a short book by the French sociologist Marcel Mauss that is the foundation of social theories of reciprocity and gift exchange. Mauss's original piece was entitled Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l' change dans les soci t s archa ques ("An essay on the gift: the form and reason of exchange in archaic societies") and was originally published in L'Ann e Sociologique in 1925. The essay was later republished in French in 1950 and translated into English in 1954 by Ian Cunnison, in 1990 by W. D. Halls, and in 2016 by Jane I. Guyer. Mauss's essay focuses on the way that the exchange of objects between groups builds relationships between humans. It analyzes the economic practices of various so-called archaic societies and finds that they have a common central practice centered on reciprocal exchange. In them, he finds evidence contrary to the presumptions of modern Western societies about the history and nature of exchange. He shows that early exchange systems center around the obligations to give, to receive, and, most importantly, to reciprocate. They occur between groups, not only individuals, and they are a crucial part of "total phenomena" that work to build not just wealth and alliances but social solidarity because "the gift" pervades all aspects of the society. He uses a comparative method, drawing upon published secondary scholarship on peoples from around the world, but especially the Pacific Northwest (especially potlatch). After examining the reciprocal gift-giving practices of each, he finds in them common features, despite some variation. From the disparate evidence, he builds a case for a foundation to human society based on collective (vs. individual) exchange practices. In so doing, he refutes the English tradition of liberal thought, such as utilitarianism, as distortions of human exchange practices. He concludes by speculating that social welfare programs may be recovering some aspects of the morality of the gift within modern market economies. (wikipedia.org)

The Gift is a short book by the French sociologist Marcel Mauss that is the foundation of social theories of reciprocity and gift exchange. Mauss's original piece was entitled Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l'Echange dans les sociEtEs archaIques ("An essay on the gift: the form and reason of exchange in archaic societies") and was originally published in L'AnnEe Sociologique in 1925. The essay was later republished in French in 1950 and translated into English in 1954 by Ian Cunnison, in 1990 by W. D. Halls, and in 2016 by Jane I. Guyer. Mauss's essay focuses on the way that the exchange of objects between groups builds relationships between humans. It analyzes the economic practices of various so-called archaic societies and finds that they have a common central practice centered on reciprocal exchange. In them, he finds evidence contrary to the presumptions of modern Western societies about the history and nature of exchange. He shows that early exchange systems center around the obligations to give, to receive, and, most importantly, to reciprocate. They occur between groups, not only individuals, and they are a crucial part of "total phenomena" that work to build not just wealth and alliances but social solidarity because "the gift" pervades all aspects of the society. He uses a comparative method, drawing upon published secondary scholarship on peoples from around the world, but especially the Pacific Northwest (especially potlatch). After examining the reciprocal gift-giving practices of each, he finds in them common features, despite some variation. From the disparate evidence, he builds a case for a foundation to human society based on collective (vs. individual) exchange practices. In so doing, he refutes the English tradition of liberal thought, such as utilitarianism, as distortions of human exchange practices. He concludes by speculating that social welfare programs may be recovering some aspects of the morality of the gift within modern market economies. (wikipedia.org)

Scan down a list of essential works in any introduction to anthropology course and you are likely to see to see Marcel Mauss's masterpiece, Essay on the Gift. With this new translation, this crucial essay is returned to its original context, published alongside the profound works that framed its first publication in the 1923-24 issue of L'Annee Sociologique. With a critical foreword by Maurice Godelier, this is certain to become the standard English version of this important anthropological work. Included alongside the "Essay on the Gift" are Mauss's memorial accounts of the work of colleagues lost during World War I, as well as his scholarly reviews of influential contemporaries such as Franz Boas, James George Frazer, Bronislaw Malinowski, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, and others. Read in the context of these additional pieces, the "Essay on the Gift" is revealed as a complementary whole, a gesture of both personal and political generosity: his honor for his fallen colleagues; his aspiration for modern society's recuperation of the gift as a mode of repair; and his own careful, yet critical, reading of his intellectual milieu. The result sets the scene for a whole new generation of readers to study this essay alongside pieces that exhibit the erudition, political commitment, and generous collegial exchange that first nourished it into life.

Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo is one of the first books in anthropology to adopt a sociological approach to the analysis of a single society. Mauss links elements of anthropology and human geography, arguing that geographical factors should be considered in relation to a social context in all its complexity. The work is an illuminating source on the Eskimo and a proto-type of what an anthropologist should do with ethnographic data and exerted considerable influence on the development of social anthropology. English translation first published in 1979.

2011 Reprint of 1954 American Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is perhaps the first systematic study of the custom, widespread in primitive societies from ancient Rome to present-day Melanesia, of exchanging gifts. The gift is conceived as a transaction forming part of all human, personal relationships between individuals and groups. These gift exchanges are at the same time moral, economic, juridical, aesthetic, religious, mythological and social phenomena. A classic work.

In this influential work, first published in English in 1963, Durkheim and Mauss claim that the individual mind is capable of classification and they seek the origin of the ‘classificatory function’ in society. On the basis of an intensive examination of forms and principles of symbolic classification reported from the Australian aborigines, the Zuñi and traditional China, they try to establish a formal correspondence between social and symbolic classification. From this they argue that the mode of classification is determined by the form of society and that the notions of space, time, hierarchy, number, class and other such cognitive categories are products of society. Dr Needham’s introduction assesses the validity of Durkhiem and Mauss’s argument, traces its continued influence in various disciplines, and indicates its analytical value for future researches in social anthropology.

In this influential work, first published in English in 1963, Durkheim and Mauss claim that the individual mind is capable of classification and they seek the origin of the ‘classificatory function’ in society. On the basis of an intensive examination of forms and principles of symbolic classification reported from the Australian aborigines, the Zuñi and traditional China, they try to establish a formal correspondence between social and symbolic classification. From this they argue that the mode of classification is determined by the form of society and that the notions of space, time, hierarchy, number, class and other such cognitive categories are products of society. Dr Needham’s introduction assesses the validity of Durkhiem and Mauss’s argument, traces its continued influence in various disciplines, and indicates its analytical value for future researches in social anthropology.

Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) was the leading social anthropologist in Paris between the world wars, and his Manuel d’ethnographie, dating from that period, is the longest of all his texts. Despite having had four editions in France, the Manuel has hitherto been unavailable in English. This contrasts with his essays, longer and shorter, many of which have long enjoyed the status of classics within anthropology. We are therefore pleased to present, in the English language for the first time, this extraordinary work that is based on the more than thirty lectures Mauss delivered each year under the title “Instructions in descriptive ethnography, intended for travelers, administrators and missionaries.” Despite his dates, Mauss’s treatment of fundamental questions, such as how to conceptualize and classify the range of social phenomena known to us from history and ethnography, has lost none of its freshness.

Classical Durkheimian Studies of Myth and the Sacred presents English translations of several important essays, some never before translated, by members of the famous Annee sociologique group around Emile Durkheim. These works by Marcel Mauss, Henri Hubert, and Robert Hertz are key contributions to today's growing interest in and reinterpretation of Durkheimian thought on culture, religion, and symbolism. The central thrust in this new interpretive effort uses the Durkheimian theory of the sacred to understand the symbolism and meanings of cultural structures and narratives more generally. This book is vital to any contemporary collection emphasizing social theory.

Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) was the leading social anthropologist in Paris between the world wars, and his Manuel d’ethnographie, dating from that period, is the longest of all his texts. Despite having had four editions in France, the Manuel has hitherto been unavailable in English. This contrasts with his essays, longer and shorter, many of which have long enjoyed the status of classics within anthropology. We are therefore pleased to present, in the English language for the first time, this extraordinary work that is based on the more than thirty lectures Mauss delivered each year under the title “Instructions in descriptive ethnography, intended for travelers, administrators and missionaries.” Despite his dates, Mauss’s treatment of fundamental questions, such as how to conceptualize and classify the range of social phenomena known to us from history and ethnography, has lost none of its freshness.

Den franske forfatteren Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) regnes blant sosialantropologiens grunnleggere og er det sentrale bindeleddet mellom Émile Durkheim og Claude Lévi-Strauss i fransk samfunnsvitenskapelig tradisjon. De to essayene som presenteres her, handler om selvet og kroppen og er de viktigste historiske referansene for en rekke samfunnsvitenskaplige diskusjoner rundt disse begrepene de siste tiårene. I det første essayet gjør Mauss for første gang det han kaller kroppsteknikker - måter å bruke kroppen på - til et objekt for forskning, og han viser hvordan de er spesifikke for hvert enkelt samfunn. Kroppen er bindeleddet mellom det psykologiske systemet -menneskets kognitive evne - og det sosiale systemet. I det andre essayet demonstrerer Mauss de historiske betingelsene for at vi i dag kan snakke om noe slikt som en "person". Han foretar encyklopediske sveip gjennom historien, over kontinentene og i forskjellige kunnskapsdisipliner. Essayene er oversatt og annotert av Iver B. Neumann. I introduksjonen plasserer han Mauss i fransk kontekst og viser hvorfor denne typen samfunnsvitenskap ikke ble den toneangivende i Norge. Nr. 46 i Cappelens upopulære skrifter.

Gaven har som tema de sosiale implikasjonene av gaveutveksling i arkaiske samfunn. Boken har relevans langt utover antropologisk tenkning som akademisk disiplin, nettopp slik som Mauss selv i boken bidrar både til komparativ filologi, sosialfilosofi, politisk tenkning og generell sosiologi. Boken egner seg for studenter og lærere i disse fagene samt i religionsvitenskap. Oversettelse og etterord ved Thomas Hylland Eriksen. Nr. 26 i Cappelens upopulære skrifter.

Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo is one of the first books in anthropology to adopt a sociological approach to the analysis of a single society. Mauss links elements of anthropology and human geography, arguing that geographical factors should be considered in relation to a social context in all its complexity. The work is an illuminating source on the Eskimo and a proto-type of what an anthropologist should do with ethnographic data and exerted considerable influence on the development of social anthropology. English translation first published in 1979.

In this, his most famous work, Marcel Mauss presented to the world a book which revolutionized our understanding of some of the basic structures of society. By identifying the complex web of exchange and obligation involved in the act of giving, Mauss called into question many of our social conventions and economic systems. In a world rife with runaway consumption, The Gift continues to excite and challenge.

In this, his most famous work, Marcel Mauss presented to the world a book which revolutionized our understanding of some of the basic structures of society. By identifying the complex web of exchange and obligation involved in the act of giving, Mauss called into question many of our social conventions and economic systems. In a world rife with runaway consumption, The Gift continues to excite and challenge.

First written by Marcel Mauss and Henri Humbert in 1902, A General Theory of Magic gained a wide new readership when republished by Mauss in 1950. As a study of magic in 'primitive' societies and its survival today in our thoughts and social actions, it represents what Claude Lévi-Strauss called, in an introduction to that edition, the astonishing modernity of the mind of one of the century's greatest thinkers. The book offers a fascinating snapshot of magic throughout various cultures as well as deep sociological and religious insights still very much relevant today. At a period when art, magic and science appear to be crossing paths once again, A General Theory of Magic presents itself as a classic for our times.