Gift : Forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies / translated by Ian Cunnison.

By:

"Mauss, Marcel."

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: London; Routledge & Kegan Paul.; 1980Description: 129pISBN:

710068980

Subject(s):

Sociology

DDC classification:

301 Mau

Summary: It is the first systematic study of the custom, widespread in primitive societies from ancient Rome to present- day Melanesia, of exchanging gifts as a transaction forming part of all human, personal relationships between individuals and groups. These gift exchanges, as Professor Evans-Pritchard points out in his Introduction in which he discusses Mauss's singular contribution to sociological thought, are at the same time moral, economic, juridical, aesthetic, religious, mythological and social phenomena. Mauss's vast knowledge of dead and living languages and of native societies enabled him to show the profound social significance of archaic institutions which have long puzzled anthropologists. The more we study such institutions, the less inclined we shall be to take our social conventions and economic systems for granted, or lightly to assume their superiority at all points.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Books	Gandhi Smriti Library	301 Mau (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		30625

Total holds: 0

It is the first systematic study of the custom, widespread in primitive societies from ancient Rome to present- day Melanesia, of exchanging gifts as a transaction forming part of all human, personal relationships between individuals and groups. These gift exchanges, as Professor Evans-Pritchard points out in his Introduction in which he discusses Mauss's singular contribution to sociological thought, are at the same time moral, economic, juridical, aesthetic, religious, mythological and social phenomena.
Mauss's vast knowledge of dead and living languages and of native societies enabled him to show the profound social significance of archaic institutions which have long puzzled anthropologists. The more we study such institutions, the less inclined we shall be to take our social conventions and economic systems for granted, or lightly to assume their superiority at all points.

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