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Synopsis
Discover how gift exchange shapes societies, obligations, and power. This edition unpacks how giving creates social bonds across cultures.
Marcel Mauss’s classic work examines the forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies. It looks at gifts, debts, and reciprocity as the engines of social ties, authority, and ritual life. The book blends ethnography, history, and theory to explain how giving and receiving orders daily life, law, and religion.
Readers will follow the argument from simple exchanges to complex systems of obligation, learning why gifts can bind communities as strongly as laws or kinship ties. The text connects economic ideas with moral and symbolic meanings, showing how wealth, prestige, and social harmony emerge from exchange.
- How gifts create obligation, status, and long‑lasting bonds
- How rituals, feasts, and exchanges organize communities across borders
- Cross‑cultural perspectives from archaic societies to formal legal systems
- Methods and ideas for historians, anthropologists, and thoughtful readers
Ideal for readers of anthropology, social theory, and history who want a deeper view of how giving shapes human life.
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The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies
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paperback. Condition: Very Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # rev4585817570
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The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies
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Paperback. Condition: New. Print on Demand. This book explores the fascinating world of gift-giving in ancient societies, delving into the complex rituals and obligations that surrounded the act of giving and receiving. The author examines how gifts, far from being simple expressions of generosity, served as a powerful tool for establishing social relationships, maintaining order, and even influencing the supernatural. The book draws on a wide range of ethnographic material, including accounts of Polynesian cultures, the Trobriand Islanders, and even the Andamanese pygmies, to illustrate the interconnectedness of gifts with economic, legal, and religious spheres. The author reveals how the act of giving, receiving, and repaying gifts created a web of social obligations that went far beyond simple economic transactions. The book provides a unique perspective on the morality and psychology of exchange, demonstrating how seemingly simple acts of giving can reveal profound insights into the nature of human society and its underlying structures. The author's research reveals that the practice of gift-giving, far from being a relic of the past, holds crucial lessons for understanding the social forces that shape our own world. This book is a reproduction of an important historical work, digitally reconstructed using state-of-the-art technology to preserve the original format. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in the book. print-on-demand item. Seller Inventory # 9781332233311_0
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The Gift
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PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # LW-9781332233311
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The Gift
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PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # LW-9781332233311
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The Gift : Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies (Classic Reprint)
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Condition: Sehr gut. Zustand: Sehr gut | Sprache: Englisch | Produktart: Bücher | Keine Beschreibung verfügbar. Seller Inventory # 26074852/2