Marcel Hénaff, "Esiste qualcosa come un'economia del dono?" (original) (raw)

It could be that the ceremonial gift exchange described by Mauss has little to do with the ordinary idea of giving (as unilateral generosity and gesture of solidarity), and that the primary purpose of that exchange is to be a gesture of alliance among groups – that is to say, an act that performs a political foundation of human groups based on reciprocity and public recognition. In which case this ceremonial exchange must be understood as the symbolic process that makes a human society possible. It therefore does not constitutes a “gift economy”, to quote the strange oxymoron used by Mauss himself.