Gift Exchange and Relationship

This entry reconstructs the contribution of Marcel Mauss's essay, The Gift , to social theory. First, the main arguments of the essay are presented. Gifts create trust and evoke reciprocity; in archaic societies they bring social relationships and alliances into being. For Mauss, this mechanism is still effective in modern societies. In a second step, prominent sociological theories are presented that ally with Mauss, but primarily aim at the concept of reciprocity in a utilitarian or normative manner (Blau, Gouldner, Bourdieu). Finally, a perspective is presented (by Godbout, Caillé, Hénaff), which takes the tension between the concepts of gift and reciprocity seriously, and makes it theoretically productive.