Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
by
MARCEL MAUSS
Translated by
IAN GUNNISON
With an Introduction by
. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD
Professor of Social Anthropology
and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
MARCEL MAUSS
nephew and most
(i Durkheim's
872-1 950), Emile
distinguished pupil, was a man of
unusual ability and learning, and also of integrity and
strong convictions. After Durkheim's death he was the leading
figure in French sociology. His reputation was closely bound
up with the fortunes of the Annee Sociologique which he helped
his uncle to found and make famous; some of the most stimu-
1539716
VI THE GIFT
of the present book, one expresses one's attachment by sub-
ordinating one's own ambitions to the common interest. On
the few occasions met Mauss I received the impression that
I
this was how he thought and felt, and his actions confirmed it.
INTRODUCTION IX
(of the widespread custom of gift exchange and the first under- j
K
X THE GIFT
from a study of which we may learn much that, Mauss believed,
may be of value to ourselves.
It is some years since I suggested to Dr. Gunnison that he
might translate this Essay of Marcel Mauss. A good knowledge
of French is, of course, essential, but it is not in itself sufficient