Marcel Mauss

A brilliant French sociologist and anthropologist, Marcel Mauss (1872?) used case studies of Melanesia, Polynesia, and northwestern North America to demonstrate that gift exchange is a total system at the center of society.

The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies

The Gift

The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic SOcieties (Routledge Classics)

Henri Hubert

Its Nature and Functions

Sacrifice

Soziologie und Anthropologie I.

Pourquoi lire encore de nos jours cet essai, que Mauss lui-même reconnaissait comme imparfait, et surtout comment le comprendre ? Dans une introduction essentielle, Florence Weber analyse le travail de Mauss, la synthèse des travaux ethnographiques antérieurs, les réinterprétations théoriques qui en ont été faites, les multiples recherches empiriques qui s’en sont inspirées. « Le lire aujourd’hui, c’est prendre la mesure des perspectives qu’il a ouvertes et retrouver à leur racine les principes de l’approche ethnographique des prestations sans marché, un continent mieux exploré aujourd’hui. C’est aussi [...] apprendre à en finir avec le don. »

forme et raison de l'échange dans les sociétés archaïques

Essai sur le don

Nathan Schlanger

L'apport de Mauss à l'étude des techniques a inscrit la technologie au coeur des sciences humaines et sociales. Pour la première fois en langue française, ce volume rassemble l'essentiel des écrits de Mauss dans ce domaine - dont "Les techniques du corps" et l'"Essai sur les variations saisonnières" -, présenté de manière lumineuse par Nathan Schlanger, archéologue, technologue et historien des sciences sociales à l'INRAP.

Techniques, technologie et civilisation

René Girard

Prawda powieściowa i kłamstwo romantyczne

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.

A Study in Social Morphology

Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo

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)

The Gift the Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies

Offers a fascinating snapshot of magic throughout various cultures as well as deep sociological and religious insights still very much relevant today.

A General Theory of Magic

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.

Manual of Ethnography

La religion et les origines du droit pénal

Marcel Mauss's writings on techniques and technology are at the forefront of an important anthropological and sociological research tradition, and they also highlight the theoretical and ideological challenges surrounding this field of study. A selection of Mauss's texts — including his major statements on methodology, on body techniques, on practical reason, on nation and civilisation, on progress, and so forth — are here translated and presented together for the first time, with a discussion of their context, impact and implications. This book will interest scholars and students dealing with the French sociological tradition, and also more generally those concerned with technology and material culture studies in archaeological,anthropological or contemporary settings.

Techniques, Technology and Civilization

Émile Durkheim

Primitive Classification

Wendy James

N. J. Allen

Presents results of a September 1996 conference held at Oxford University, re-evaluating the importance of the writings and inspiration of Marcel Mauss, the nephew and younger colleague of Emile Durkheim. Explores not only the context of Mauss' work and his influence on other writers, but also the resonance of some of his key themes for the concerns of today's anthropology and sociology. Papers are arranged in sections on the scholar and his time, foundations of Maussian anthropology, critiques of exchange and power, and materiality, body, and history. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A Centenary Tribute

Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies

الصلاة

Primeiro capítulo do livro "Sociologia e antropologia", de Marcel Mauss, escrito pelo autor em parceria com Henri Hubert. Sinopse de "Sociologia e antropologia": Alguns dos principais textos fundadores da antropologia social estão reunidos neste livro póstumo de Marcel Mauss, publicado em 1950. Além do clássico "Ensaio sobre a dádiva", os capítulos sobre magia (em colaboração com Henri Hubert), técnicas corporais, noção de pessoa e ideias de morte tornaram-se leitura obrigatória na formação em ciências sociais. O impacto de suas ideias fez-se sentir, ainda, entre linguistas, psicólogos, filósofos e historiadores. Em "Ensaio sobre a dádiva", Mauss apresenta um estudo sobre o fenômeno da dádiva entre os povos da Polinésia, Melanésia e os indígenas da América do Norte, no qual defende que os fatores econômicos não são dissociáveis de outros aspectos da vida social: as trocas dizem respeito à sociedade no seu conjunto e derivam da obrigação de dar, receber e retribuir. Além dos ensaios de Mauss, a obra traz a célebre introdução de Claude Lévi-Strauss, um prefácio à primeira edição do sociólogo Georges Gurvitch, um texto "in memoriam" de Henri Lévy-Bruhl e orelha assinada pelo antropólogo Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira.

(in Sociologia e antropologia)

Esboço de uma teoria geral da magia

Esta é uma das mais importantes, conhecidas e estudadas obras de Marcel Mauss, onde se fundem a etnologia e a sociologia. A magia - não como especulação ou produto religioso, mas como forma primeira do pensamento humano.

Marcel Mauss

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