38 pages • 1 hour read
Marcel MaussThe Gift
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1923A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
1.
What rule of legality and self-interest compels the gift that has been received to be obligatorily reciprocated? Explain.
2.
What power (mana) resides in the object given that causes its recipient to pay it back? What are the consequences if it is not reciprocated? Give examples.
3.
Mauss states that the obligation to give is only superseded by the obligation to accept. In this way the potlatch is a system of total services, in particular of an agonistic type. What does he mean by this? Explain.
