Abstract
This paper deals with Mauss's legacy to the historical and comparative sociology of the gift by means of a comparison between his famous Essai sur le don (Essay on the Gift) with Paul Veyne's approach in his study of the evergetic gift in the Greco-Roman period, Le Pain et le cirque (Bread and Circuses). Whereas Mauss stresses basically similar and universal characteristics of the gift through historical periods and cultures, Veyne, on the other hand, insists on differences, distinctions and discontinuities. Indeed, the relationship between Veyne and Mauss is somewhat ambiguous and even parallel in certain ways. The beginnings of a Weberian-inspired position is suggested which, while not denying possible similarities and continuities, also tends to approach the diversity of the gift as an empirical variable and to replace it within a pluridimensional analysis of its socio-cultural and historical contexts.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Sociologie et sociétés |
| Volume | 36 |
| State | Published - 2004 |
Bibliographical note
Marcel Mauss': Essai sur le Don, translated from the French by Hila Karas, with introduction by Ilana F. Silber. (Hebrew). Scientific editing of the translation of this classic from French into Hebrew.Authors: Marcel Mauss. I authored the Introduction