The Return of the Gift

This Book Is A History Of European Interpretations Of The Gift From The Mid-Seventeenth To The Early Twentieth Century. Reciprocal Gift Exchange Pervasive In Traditional European Society Disappeared From The Discourse Of Nineteenth-Century Social Theory Only To Return As A Major Theme In Twentieth-Century Anthropology Sociology History Philosophy And Literary Studies. Modern Anthropologists Encountered Gift Exchange In Oceania And The Pacific Northwest And Returned The Idea To European Social Thought; Marcel Mauss Synthesized Their Insights With His Own Readings From Remote Times And Places In His Famous 1925 Essay On The Gift The Starting-Point For Subsequent Discussion. The Return Of The Gift Demonstrates How European Intellectual History Can Gain Fresh Significance From Global Contexts.