The Anonymous Donor By Marcel Mauss

952 Words2 Pages

The process of gift giving has been a custom in many different types of societies throughout history and Marcel Mauss believes that there is deeper meaning to all gift giving. Mauss argues that gift giving means you are part of a cycle or social contract with other individuals where gifts are obligatory. Mauss makes this argument because this deeper meaning of gift giving was not just the custom for older societies but can be applied to our society today like you see in the clip “Anonymous Donor.” This clip represents Mauss’s belief because it shows how the characters are part of a gift cycle through honor, the commitments the gift cycle entails are to reciprocate which leads into rivalries and that the gift cycle connects with dominant institutions …show more content…

This process is called the gift cycle where people engage in permanent commitments with individuals or institutions by exchanging gifts and services. (Mary Douglas, foreword, ix) In the clip “The Anonymous”, Larry David is part of the gift cycle because he honors the museum by donating money in order to create a wing for the museum. Larry David is part of the gift cycle because it is an act of honor to give gifts and by giving gifts to a dominant institution like a museum means he is committed to continue honoring the museum as if it was an authoritative figure. The Tlingit, Haida and primitive tribe’s view of gift giving is similar to our own society where they are permanently committed to their dominant institutions through offerings of services, food, acts of precedence, rites and gifts to honor the authority of the dominant institution. (Mauss p.38) The more people that enter gift cycles with their dominant institutions signifies the importance of the institution. Ted is in a gift cycle with the museum as he also donated money to the museum in order for them to create a wing and with Ted donating alongside Larry shows the importance of the museum as a dominant institution in society. Being part of the gift cycle means you are committed to offering gifts and to give gifts means you must be …show more content…

For an institution to reciprocate multiple individuals leads to arguments about who gains the more valuable gift in return. In the clip, Larry and Ted are rivals because they both are looking for praise by donating to the museum. Ted kept his donation anonymous so he gained more praise from the museum because it made him look like he donated because it was the right thing to do instead of going after the people’s praise like Larry. In the American Northwest, “it is a competition to see who is the richest and also the most madly extravagant…everything is based on the principles of antagonism and rivalry” (Mauss p.37) Individuals are part of a permanent commitment to institutions in a gift cycle and giving a very large gift to an individual or institution shows that you are part of a high social class and this leads to rivalries between people of the same social class to see who is more wealthy. Larry and Ted are part of the same social class because they both donated a significant amount of money to get a wing named after them but Ted was showed as being the winner of the rivalry because he was reciprocated with more fame than Larry. The competition between Larry and Ted proves that in a gift cycle, rivalries can begin with people in the same social

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