Polysemy of the gift
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We continue in this article to sketch our lexicographical notes on the status of the gift among cultures. We try to show, following the useful distinction of Alain Caillé, that in the Trobriand Islands—as in the West—that the gift can be presented as a rather positive “economic action” or a “political operator” that has other—often agonistic—sociological purposes. From this we conclude that the term “gift” is almost too polysemic in order to do justice to MAUSSian theory, and that the term should always be used as an adjective in order to distinguish for instance between“festive gifts” (christmas, birthday, etc.), “diplomatic gifts” (between heads of States, etc.) and so on.
Réseaux sociaux