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(1872-1950) French sociologist-anthropologist; succeeded his uncle, Émile Durkheim, as editor of L'Année Sociologique and leader of the French school. Studied with Sanskritist Sylvain Levi and wrote essays (with Henri Hubert) on sacrifice and magic as well as studies of the person, the influence of collective ideas of death on the individual, the concept of civilization, and an unfinished work on prayer, which focused on collective oral rites. His most influential work, on gift exchange, examines it as "total social phenomenon," integrating economic, legal, religious, magical, and other facts.

—Donald A. Nielsen

References

C. Lévi-Strauss, Introduction to the Work of Marcel Mauss (London: Routledge, 1987)

M. Mauss, Oeuvres , 3 vols. (Éditions de Minuit, 1969-1975)

M. Mauss, Sociologie et Anthropologie , 3rd ed. (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1973).

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