ANTH 1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Marcel Mauss, Socalled, Potlatch
Document Summary
Do ut des: the social bonds of reciprocity: gift-giving- not quite as straightforward as we might think pure gift- a gift you give without any expectation or obligation of return. Anonymous gift (donation) mary douglass suggests that charity doesn"t really exist one gives with the obligation to give/receive/ and reciprocate. Mauss" understanding of the gift/exchange focuses on the collective/social, he is very much apart of durkheimian sociology and what holds society together: background on mauss and the gift. Nephew of durkheimian (1872-1950); published the gift on 1922. What he tells us about exchange has had a profound influence across the social sciences. Mauss poses the question at the beginning of his study: Mauss asserts that in so-called primitive societies, there is a complex system of exchange. First, it is not simply individuals who exchange, but collectivities. It is not individuals but collectivities that impose obligations of exchange an contract upon each other.
