Marcel Mauss

Marcel Mauss’s essay titled “The Gift” published in 1925, focused on the way exchange of objects between groups, builds relationships between them. He argued that giving an object creates an inherent obligation on the receiver to reciprocate the gift, thus resulting in a series of exchanges between groups, therefore providing us with one of the earliest forms of social solidarity used by humans. Mauss describes Melanesian and Polynesian peoples, gift economy as one of material and moral life, it is exemplified in gift exchange, the functions there in a manner at once interested and obligatory. Furthermore, the obligation is expressed in myth, symbolically and collectively. Mauss finds within gift exchange an analytical idea that is, uniquely ethnographic. Those peoples who were exchanging gifts also understood obligations to be that of an abstract ideal, one that could be…

Reciprocity constitutes a major exchange system in every society. Reciprocal exchange involves the transfer of goods and services between two people or groups based on role obligations. Birthday and holiday gift giving is a fine example of reciprocity, as during these occasions, we exchange goods not because we necessarily need or want them, but because we are expected to do so as part of our status and role. If we fail in our reciprocal obligations, we signal an unwillingness to continue the…

also be an association with trans national corporations such as Coco-Cola or Budweiser for example, which would be some of the brands included gift exchange. Although I believe the trend economy is slowly outdating, it still plays a vital role in the effectiveness of stability of many cultures globally. Cligget concludes by suggesting that gifts or gestures of alliances translate to old-age security. Also, in the Zambian case, gift remitting says much about the strategic decision-making and…

that permeated through. Gifts are meant to hold sentimental value, which is part of the reason why gifts are exchanged today. Yet, is there anything else that makes gifts more intriguing to what we see today? Marcel Mauss, a French sociologist , published The Gift in which he studied Polynesian culture and the intricate…

This essay will critically analyze Marcel Mauss’ The Gift findings and theories about the honor, gift, and concept of “pure” or "free" gifts in the absence of an agenda. In doing so, he will integrate the use of these ideas and notions by the variety of writing theorists into the contemporary issues of using gifts and exchanging and sharing in the modern societies. However The Gift received a lot of criticism when it seems confronted with some of the assumptions incompatible with…

The ethnographic case studies written by Marcel Mauss; The gift, thieving a chance by Rebecca prentice and Tongan women and migratory circuits of wealth by Ping-Ann Addo are all uniquely different, representing different traditions as well as different concepts based on their way of life. However, these three case studies, regardless of the differences in their concepts of culture, all represents similar traditions. These case studies all follow the rule of reciprocity, exchange, gifting and…

Marcel Mauss (2002) in his seminal work The Gift (2002) has said that even though gift-giving is technically a voluntary process and it is allegedly free of any egotism in reality gift giving and receiving is a social obligation and is inundated with self-interest. Mauss adds that the gestures associated with gift-giving, the mask of generosity and disinterestedness, are all mere fictions to appease our sense of propriety. In other words, when people give gifts they do so with the motive of…

focus primarily on Marcel Mauss and his theory of the gift, while its successive section on the various criticisms of Mauss’ theory by different sociologists and anthropologists. In the fifth section, we will look at the paradox of the “pure gift” and unidirectional giving. In the last section, we shall examine as to why for a gift to be a gift, a loss or sacrifice is necessary. What is a gift? A gift…

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…

The idea of gift giving in the Antebellum South, symbolized one’s stature in their community as it projected wealth, status, and honor. Furthermore, southern men of honor loved to give gifts as much as they could, even if they could not afford it as it gave the illusion that they were wealthier than they actually were. It was very important to men of honor to keep up an illusion they were more important and powerful than they actually were. These interactions were not just limited between men…