Marcel Mauss
6 books
About the Author
Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) was a pioneering French sociologist and anthropologist whose groundbreaking work profoundly influenced the social sciences. A nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss co-founded the Année Sociologique and served as a professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the Collège de France. His seminal contribution, Essai sur le don: Forme et raison de l'échange dans les sociétés archaïques, introduced the concept of the gift as a fundamental social mechanism, exploring reciprocity, obligation, and exchange in archaic societies. Through meticulous ethnographic analysis, Mauss illuminated how gifts foster social bonds, challenging Western economic individualism and inspiring fields from anthropology to economics. His interdisciplinary approach, blending sociology, ethnology, and philosophy, remains essential for understanding human solidarity and cultural practices.
Common genres
Writing style
scholarly
analytical
ethnographic
Books by Marcel Mauss
