Marcel Mauss

Marcel Mauss
Born(1872-05-10)10 May 1872
Épinal, Vosges, France
Died10 February 1950(1950-02-10) (aged 77)
Paris, France
Alma materEcole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
Known forThe Gift
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsÉcole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
Signature

Marcel Mauss (French: [mos]; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology".[1] The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociology and anthropology. Today, he is perhaps better recognised for his influence on the latter discipline, particularly with respect to his analyses of topics such as magic, sacrifice and gift exchange in different cultures around the world. Mauss had a significant influence upon Claude Lévi-Strauss, the founder of structural anthropology.[2] His most famous work is The Gift (1925).

  1. ^ Hughes, Alex; Reader, Keith, eds. (1998). "anthropology and ethnology". Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture. London and New York: Routledge. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-134-78865-1.
  2. ^ Moebius, Stephan; Nungesser, Frithjof (2014): ‚La filiation est directe‘ – L’influence de Marcel Mauss sur l’œuvre de Claude Lévi-Strauss. In: Eric Brian, Stephan Moebius, Frithjof Nungesser and Florence Weber (Eds.): Relire Mauss/Relektüren von Marcel Mauss. Trivium. Revue franco-allemande de sciences humaines et sociales. Deutsch-französische Zeitschrift für Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften. http://trivium.revues.org/4836 . See also Barth, Fredrik (2005). One Discipline, Four Ways: British, German, French, and American Anthropology. University of Chicago Press, p. 208.