Marcel Mauss - Critiques

Critiques

Mauss's views on the nature of gift exchange have not been without their critics. French anthropologist Alain Testart (1998) for example argues that there are "free" gifts, such as passers-by giving money to beggars in e.g. a large Western city. Donor and receiver do not know each other and are unlikely to ever meet again. In this context, the donation certainly creates no obligation on the side of the beggar to reciprocate; neither the donor nor the beggar have such an expectation. Testart argues that only the latter can actually be enforced. He feels that Mauss overstated the magnitude of the obligation created by social pressures, particularly in his description of the potlatch amongst North American Indians.

Another example of a non-reciprocal "free" gift is provided by British anthropologist James Laidlaw (2000). He describes the social context of Indian Jain renouncers, a group of itinerant celibate renouncers living an ascetic life of spiritual purification and salvation. The principle of non-violence influences the diet of Jain renouncers and compels them to avoid preparing food as this could potentially involve violence against microscopic organisms. Since Jain renouncers do not work, they rely on food donations from lay families within the Jain community. However, the former must not appear to be having any wants or desires, and only very hesitantly and apologetically receive the food prepared by the latter.

"Free" gifts therefore challenge the aspects of the Maussian notion of the gift unless we take into consideration the moral and non-material qualities of gifting. These aspects are, of course, at the heart of the gift, as demonstrated in books such as Annette Weiner's (1992), Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping While Giving.