Overview
The authors describe the gift not as an object but as a social connection, because it creates a sense of obligation to respond in kind. They examine how the gift works in a broad range of cases such as blood and organ donation; volunteer work; the bonds between friends, couples and family; Santa Claus; the interaction between performers and their audience; and the relation of the artist to society.
Full Product Details
Author: Jacques T. Godbout ,
Alain C. Caille ,
Alain C. Caille ,
Alain C. Caille
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Imprint: McGill-Queen's University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.10cm
, Height: 2.40cm
, Length: 23.00cm
Weight: 0.520kg
ISBN: 9780773517516
ISBN 10: 0773517510
Pages: 250
Publication Date: 21 October 1998
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
The idea of gift underlies central problems of social philosophy. In future any adequate treatment of trust and solidarity will need to take this new essay on the gift into account. Utility theory has so dominated our thought that the gift economy has been eclipsed by market operations. Jacques Godbout restores the balance. He shows how market demand depends on the existence of gift exchange. Basic needs apart, what else do people want commodities for? Goods are for giving and hospitality. By turning around the attention of social sciences from the market to gifts this book could change the perspective in an important way. Mary Douglas In this fascinating book, following in the footsteps of Mauss, Battaille, and Derrida, Godbout and Caille pursue the 'world of the gift' with erudition and passion. Georges Balandier, Le Monde It may be difficult for readers to resist the meticulously argued optimism of this book. The authors manage to illuminate vast fields of human experience which are in danger of being obscured by modern cynicism: fields where love and gratitude are asserted daily and silently, and where the mysterious 'spirit of the gift' continually renews the bonds that define and sustain us. Montreal Review of Books
The idea of gift underlies central problems of social philosophy. In future any adequate treatment of trust and solidarity will need to take this new essay on the gift into account. Utility theory has so dominated our thought that the gift economy has been eclipsed by market operations. Jacques Godbout restores the balance. He shows how market demand depends on the existence of gift exchange. Basic needs apart, what else do people want commodities for? Goods are for giving and hospitality. By turning around the attention of social sciences from the market to gifts this book could change the perspective in an important way. Mary Douglas In this fascinating book, following in the footsteps of Mauss, Battaille, and Derrida, Godbout and Caille pursue the world of the gift with erudition and passion. Georges Balandier, Le Monde It may be difficult for readers to resist the meticulously argued optimism of this book. The authors manage to illuminate vast fields of human experience which are in danger of being obscured by modern cynicism: fields where love and gratitude are asserted daily and silently, and where the mysterious spirit of the gift continually renews the bonds that define and sustain us. Montreal Review of Books
