Marcel Mauss was a French sociologist and anthropologist, the nephew and close collaborator of Emile Durkheim, whose own work extended Durkheimian sociology into the comparative study of specific social institutions. His most influential work, The Gift (1925), analyzed gift exchange in societies across the Pacific, North America, and antiquity, arguing that apparently voluntary and disinterested gifts are in fact bound up with obligations to give, to receive, and to reciprocate, and that such exchange systems bind together the economic, legal, moral, and religious dimensions of social life as a single total social fact. Mauss's analysis of reciprocity and exchange profoundly influenced later structuralist anthropology, including the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Facts
Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionNephew and collaborator of Emile Durkheim; bridged French sociology and anthropology 1 Notable WorkThe Gift (1925), foundational study of gift exchange as a total social phenomenon 1 Marcel Mauss
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Informed By
Mauss was Durkheim nephew and close collaborator in the Annee Sociologique circle, extending Durkheimian sociology into comparative anthropology.
Practices Studied
Source Wikipedia: Gift Economy
Source Encyclopedia.com (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences): Marcel Mauss
Source Wikipedia: Sacrifice
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Source Marcel Mauss (Wikipedia)Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articleQuote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Marcel Israël Mauss (French: [mos]; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology".
Sources
1. Marcel Mauss (Wikipedia)
Wikipediainfobox, Born field
10 May 1872, Epinal, Vosges, France
infobox, Died field
10 February 1950 (aged 77), Paris, France
lead sentence
Marcel Israel Mauss (10 May 1872 - 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the father of French ethnology.
article body, most-famous-work sentence
His most famous work is The Gift (1925).
article body, Durkheim-nephew sentence
The nephew of Emile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociology and anthropology.
View the Source Wikidata: Marcel Mauss
Wikidata Q295393, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)View the Source Encyclopedia.com (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences): Marcel Mauss
Encyclopedia.com (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences)Practices Studied: Religion, BiographyQuote, Practices Studied: Religion, Biography
In charge of the section on religious sociology, Mauss was one of its leading contributors.
Wikipedia: Gift Economy
WikipediaPractices Studied: Gift Economy, Article body sentence quotedQuote, Practices Studied: Gift Economy, Article body sentence quoted
Malinowski's debate with the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss quickly established the complexity of "gift exchange" and introduced a series of technical terms such as reciprocity, inalienable possessions, and presentation to distinguish between the different forms of exchange.
Wikipedia: Sacrifice
WikipediaPractices Studied: Ritual Sacrifice, Article body sentence quotedQuote, Practices Studied: Ritual Sacrifice, Article body sentence quoted
Building on Durkheim's functionalist theories of sacrifice, Durkheim's nephew and disciple Marcel Mauss collaborated with historian Henri Hubert to argue that sacrifice is a form of gift directed to the gods with the social expectation that the gods would offer a greater gift at a later date.
Wikipedia: Marcel Mauss
WikipediaIn Group: French Anthropologists and Ethnologists, lead sentenceQuote, In Group: French Anthropologists and Ethnologists, lead sentence
Marcel Israel Mauss (10 May 1872 - 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the father of French ethnology.
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