Marcel Mauss - Durkheimien or independent classicist of French sociology?

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, the question of an independent contribution of Marcel Mauss to social theory has been intensly debated in France. This paper shows that Mauss can be seen as a classic of a symbolic, non-structuralist, interactionist and anti-utilitarian sociology if he is more clearly set apart from Durkheim and untangled from the influences of structuralism and structuralist utilitarianism. Mauss' contribution to French sociology is similar to Mead's and Simmel's contributions to American and German sociology respectively: these classical thinkers represent a third paradigm which goes beyond the dichotomy of instrumental rationality and normative action. According to Mauss, particularly the logic of the gift establishes an independent interaction order and the act of giving has to be recognised as an intrinsic symbolic as well as a social fact. Following Mauss, the gift represents and embodies symbolic interaction.