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To show how Mauss succeeds to throw light on our present time is less easy that it appears at first sight. The notion of totality is a fundamental category of the maussian sociology. But this major contribution poses problems because of his insistence to divide humanity into two categories : “dissociated” individuals of elite and the great majority of “total” beings. Which position to adopt facing such an apparent confusion between totality as a methodological principle and as a scornful term, to name both so-called primitive people and the mass of average individuals within modern societies? Let us recognize that some aspects of Mauss’ work are no longer valid, in order to bring out the ones that allow us to view the present world with a critical and constructive perspective as well.