{"product_id":"the-enigma-of-the-gift","title":"The Enigma of the Gift","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen we think of giving gifts  we think of exchanging objects that carry with them economic or symbolic value. But is every valuable thing a potentially exchangeable item  whose value can be transferred? In The Enigma of the Gift  the distinguished French anthropologist Maurice Godelier reassesses the significance of gifts in social life by focusing on sacred objects  which are never exchanged despite the value they possess.  Beginning with an analysis of the seminal work of Marcel Mauss and Claude Lvi-Strass  and drawing on his own fieldwork in Melanesia  Godelier argues that traditional theories are flawed because they consider only exchangeable gifts. By explaining gift-giving in terms of sacred objects and the authoritative conferral of power associated with them  Godelier challenges both recent and traditional theories of gift-giving  provocatively refreshing a traditional debate.  Elegantly translated by Nora Scott  The Enigma of the Gift is at once a major theoretical contribution and an essential guide to the history of the theory of the gift.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44956950724661,"sku":"ByrdShop_0226300455","price":30.73,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780226300450.jpg?v=1770324125","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-enigma-of-the-gift","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}