The Gift of Mauss is about an economic system based on gifts and reciprocity that was common, under different forms, in many “archaic” societies. The author used various ethnographies to develop a new economic theory different from the barter theory and called gift economy. An important compound of this new theory is the reciprocity, but in order to understand what is it for Mauss, the gift economy need to be explained.
First, this new kind of economy is based on the exchange of services. This exchange of services is controlled and regulated by a sets of rules and create a contract between the two actors of the exchange, which can be a clan or individuals. This contract between the to parties can destroy or creates social bounds or alliances …show more content…
In other word, if someone gives you something you are supposed to give it back to him in some way or another. It is through the reciprocity that social bounds are formed or destroyed, in that sense, the reciprocity is not only an exchange of services, it include a social and a power aspect. When this system of gifting and back gifting, which Mauss calls “total service system”, is established, it will work until someone brooks it by not reciprocating. Indeed, the way to give back will depends of the kind of service, its context and the temporality. In the same way than the exchange, the reciprocity is governed by what we can call social norms and by 3 principal laws or obligations to regulate it. In such system, you have to give, to reciprocate and you are forced to accept the service. As mention earlier, a person will feel compel to reciprocate. Related to the obligation to reciprocate, “the spirit of the gift” or hau in Maori language, is a force within the object given that must return to the gift-giver through another service in other to avoid negative …show more content…
That last hidden law is about sacrifices or offering to gods and says that the system of reciprocity is not perfect. In those kinds of gift, it is impossible to predict the way that a service will be reciprocate. For example, when the Yuit held a Potlatch, they will return to their homeland with the remains of killed animals. This ritual is considerate as a gift and it is made in order to insure that the killed animals will come back the next year. However, there is no certainty about the “gift-back”, but no matter how it is reciprocated, the relation between the clan and the gods or the nature would not
First, this new kind of economy is based on the exchange of services. This exchange of services is controlled and regulated by a sets of rules and create a contract between the two actors of the exchange, which can be a clan or individuals. This contract between the to parties can destroy or creates social bounds or alliances …show more content…
In other word, if someone gives you something you are supposed to give it back to him in some way or another. It is through the reciprocity that social bounds are formed or destroyed, in that sense, the reciprocity is not only an exchange of services, it include a social and a power aspect. When this system of gifting and back gifting, which Mauss calls “total service system”, is established, it will work until someone brooks it by not reciprocating. Indeed, the way to give back will depends of the kind of service, its context and the temporality. In the same way than the exchange, the reciprocity is governed by what we can call social norms and by 3 principal laws or obligations to regulate it. In such system, you have to give, to reciprocate and you are forced to accept the service. As mention earlier, a person will feel compel to reciprocate. Related to the obligation to reciprocate, “the spirit of the gift” or hau in Maori language, is a force within the object given that must return to the gift-giver through another service in other to avoid negative …show more content…
That last hidden law is about sacrifices or offering to gods and says that the system of reciprocity is not perfect. In those kinds of gift, it is impossible to predict the way that a service will be reciprocate. For example, when the Yuit held a Potlatch, they will return to their homeland with the remains of killed animals. This ritual is considerate as a gift and it is made in order to insure that the killed animals will come back the next year. However, there is no certainty about the “gift-back”, but no matter how it is reciprocated, the relation between the clan and the gods or the nature would not