This reintroduction to the life and work of Marcel Mauss highlights his coherent and original thought both as an academic and an engaged intellectual of his time. Since his work regained attention in social sciences in the later 20th century, Reintroducing Marcel Mauss also emphasises the progression of research on Mauss’s thought, bringing to light various neglected aspects of his scientific project, including his political commitment and writings. With a review of the contemporary research on Mauss’s legacy, it offers a fuller understanding of the questions with which he was concerned – questions which converged in the challenge of working out alternative ways for a social life that promotes a genuinely social society inspired by socialist and cooperative values. It will therefore appeal to scholars of sociology and anthropology with interests in the history and development of sociology, and the contemporary importance of classical social theory.

This book highlights the importance of the sociological innovations of Marcel Mauss - a central figure in the development of the social sciences in France - reflecting on his political commitment to cooperative movements and exploring the enduring relevance of his thought to contemporary societal questions.

First published in 1987. Claude Levi-Strauss is one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century, a leading exponent of structuralism and a great social anthropologist. His Introduction to the Work of Marcel Mauss , originally written to preface the earliest major collection of Mauss's writings, Sociologie et Anthropologie (1950), was hailed as a seminal text by leading structuralists such as Derrida, Lacan and Barthes. This edition, the first English translation to be published, should prove invaluable to anthropologists, philologists, psychologists, and all those interested in one of the most important intellectual movements generated by the twentieth century. Levi-Strauss uses an approach combining anthropology and structural linguistics to assess Marcel Mauss's achievements and intentions arguing that Mauss - who at the time represented the mainstream of French anthropology - was in fact structuralist manque. He goes on to formulate the central tenets of structuralist thought: the belief in societies being organised on immutable and unconscious laws, this foundation then providing the basis for true scientific study; multi-discplinary methodology combining anthropology, lingusitics and psychoanalysis; and a faith that a comprehensive science of communication can be made by the application of mathematical reasoning.

First published in 1990. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book offers a new introduction to the thought of Gabriel Tarde, highlighting the continuing relevance, and even the novelty, of both his general theoretical approach and many of his specific analyses. Showing that Tarde elaborates a comprehension of the social that was received with difficulty in his time but is increasingly akin to ours, it demonstrates that the infinitesimal sociology offered to us by Tarde provides a framework through which we can understand a whole range of social phenomena. With attention to social networks, public opinion, innovation, diffusion, virality and virtuality—all of which were topics addressed by Tarde himself—the author clarifies and elaborates upon Tarde’s central theses on the multiple, differential, infinitesimal and infinite nature of both the social and the subjective. An examination of the importance of a figure whose work looked ahead to our own age, Reintroducing Gabriel Tarde will appeal to scholars and students of social sciences and social theory with interests in contemporary social thought.

This book explores the innovative, sociological approach adopted by Harriet Martineau in her efforts to develop a ‘scientific’ approach to understanding social and societal change. With attention to her focus on the key social structures and societal issues of her day – the economy, education, the condition of women and the evils of slavery – the authors highlight her creation and application of what we now recognise as sociological methodology, fieldwork and analysis. Through an examination in each chapter of the writings that best illustrate Martineau’s sociological perspective, Reintroducing Harriet Martineau discusses her enduring contribution to sociology. As such, it will appeal to scholars and students of sociology with interests in the history of the discipline and questions of methodology.

A Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion introduces the key concepts and theories from religious studies that are necessary for a full understanding of the complex relations between religion and society. The aim is to provide readers with an arsenal of critical concepts for studying religious ideologies, practices, and communities. This thoroughly revised second edition has been restructured to clearly emphasize key topics including: Essentialism Functionalism Authority Domination. All ideas and theories are clearly illustrated, with new and engaging examples and case studies throughout, making this the ideal textbook for students approaching the subject area for the first time.

Marcel Mauss, successor of Emile Durkheim and one-time teacher of Claude Levi-Strauss, continues to inspire social scientists across various disciplines. Only selected texts of Mauss's work have been translated into English, but of these, some, as for instance his "Essay on the Gift," have proved of key significance for the development of anthropology internationally. Recently and starting in France, the interest in Mauss's work has increased noticeably as witnessed by several reassessments of its relevance to current social theory. This collection of original essays is the first to introduce the English-language reader to the current re-evaluation of his ideas in continental Europe. Themes include the post-structuralist appraisal of "exchange", the anthropology of the body, practical techniques, gesture systems, the notions of substance, materiality, and the social person. There are fresh insights into comparative politics and history, modern forms of charity, and new readings of some political and historical aspects of Mauss's work that bear on the analysis of regions such as Africa and the Middle East, relatively neglected by the Durkheimian school and by structuralism. This volume is a timely tribute to mark the centenary of Mauss' early work and confirms the continuing relevance of his ideas.

Representing Development presents the different social representations that have formed the idea of development in Western thinking over the past three centuries. Offering an acute perspective on the current state of developmental science and providing constructive insights into future pathways, the book draws together twelve contributors with a variety of multidisciplinary and international perspectives to focus upon development in fields including biology, psychology and sociology. Chapters and commentaries in this volume present a variety of perspectives surrounding social representation and development, addressing their contemporary enactments and reflecting on future theoretical and empirical directions. The first section of the book provides an historical account of early representations of development that, having come from life science, has shaped the way in which developmental science has approached development. Section two focuses upon the contemporary issues of developmental psychology, neuroscience and developmental science at large. The final section offers a series of commentaries pointing to the questions opened by the previous chapters, looking to outline the future lines of developmental thinking. This book will be of particular interest to child psychologists, educational psychologists and sociologists or historians of science, as well as academics and students interested in developmental and life sciences.

Marcel Mauss’s 1925 essay The Gift is an enduring classic of sociological and anthropological analysis by a thinker who is one of the founding fathers of modern anthropology. The Gift exploits Mauss’s high-level analytical and interpretative skills to produce a brilliant investigation of the forms, meanings, and structures of gift-giving across a range of societies. Mauss, along with many others, had noted that in a wide range of societies – especially those without monetary exchange or legal structures – gift-giving and receiving was carried out according to strict customs and unwritten laws. What he sought to do in The Gift was to analyse the structures that governed how and when gifts were given, received, and reciprocated in order to grasp what implicit and unspoken reasons governed these structures. He also wanted to apply his interpretative skills to asking what such exchanges meant, in order to explore the implications his analysis might have for modern, western cultures. In Mauss’s investigations, it became clear that gift-giving is, in many cultures, a crucial structural force, binding people together in a web of reciprocal commitments generated by the laws of gifting. Indeed, he concluded, gifts can be seen as the ‘glue’ of society..