French anthropologist and sociologist who developed the theory of gift exchange — arguing that gifts are never free but operate in a system of reciprocal obligation that is the foundation of social life.
The Gift: the obligation to give, receive, and reciprocate — gift exchange is never purely altruistic but embedded in systems of power, prestige, and obligation. The total social fact: institutions like gift exchange are simultaneously economic, juridical, moral, aesthetic, and religious. Techniques of the body: culturally specific ways of using the body (swimming, walking, etc.) are social facts.
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