The World of the Gift

Shelley Butler is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at York University
studying cultural politics at the University of Cape Town in South
Africa.

This welcome translation of L’Esprit du Don, which was published in
1992, offers a thorough and imaginative exploration of the meaning of
the gift in modernity. While we tend to think of modernity as governed
by market exchange and self-interest, Godbout and Caille demonstrate
that the gift has a vital presence in contemporary society. They explore
the logic of the gift in a wide range of examples—conversation,
intimate relationships, Alcoholics Anonymous, blood and organ donations,
celebrations, the interaction between artists and their
audiences—building on the work of an established group of French
theorists who contend that the gift creates unique, fundamental social
connections. Unlike exchange that occurs in a market economy, a gift
creates a sense of obligation and debt, which in turn ensures that
social relationships endure through time.

The authors reject utilitarian and overly formalistic analyses of the
gift, and instead try to evoke its atmosphere. To achieve this, they do
not shy away from discussing subjective and metaphysical notions such as
love, surrender, respect, gratitude, debt, inequality, birth, death,
security, freedom, solidarity, and isolation. In an engaging fashion,
they continually explore ethical, political, and philosophical
implications of their analysis and defence of the gift. Many of the
insights about the way contemporary societies are organized are
illuminating and provocative. But they can also be too general—plenty
of material remains for social theorists, including feminists, to
further explore.