2nd Edition

The Gift The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies

By Marcel Mauss Copyright 2001
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    Biography

    Marcel Mauss (1872 - 1950) As well as being a sociologist and anthropologist, Mauss was also a revolutionary socialist. Today his name is associated with the leading intellectual movement in France, MAUSS.

    'The Gift is quite undeniably the masterwork of Marcel Mauss, his most justly famous writing, and the work whose influence has been the deepest.' - Claude Lévi-Strauss