The Gift by Marcel Mausse

4049 Words17 Pages
The Gift Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies (Chapter I: Gifts and the Obligation to Return Gifts & Chapter II: Distribution of the System: Generosity, Honour And Money) BY MARCEL MAUSS The Importance of the Gift Marcel Mauss’ book “The Gift” is a comparative study of the institution of the gift in different primitive and archaic cultures. This book is very important for two reasons: Mauss notes the existence of a logically structured communication system and at the same time he enters the concept of the total social phenomenon in anthropological theory: the concept of a multidimensional phenomenon which is at the same time economical, juridical, moral, religious, mythological and aesthetical. Before this book was published we did not suspect the economical importance of the gift and its role in ancient societies. Of course in these societies as well in ours the economical importance is hidden and covered under a number of symbolisms. Even today, we can notice this function of the gift, for example when a young couple gets married or maybe during a child birth. Indeed in our society survive a lot of aspects of the gift; they are only adapted to the new situation and they do not play a central role. This role is now played by the free market and this the result of the social evolution from the stage of exchange to the stage of the free market. THE BOOK The book is divided in four chapters with the following subjects: i. The exchange of gifts and the obligation to reciprocate ii. The extension of this system iii. Survivals of these principles in ancient systems of law and ancient economies iv. Conclusion What Mauss is trying to show is that in all societies gifts which are supposed to be given voluntarily, are actually obligatory. He argues that all social phenomena are connected with each other, therefore they
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