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English Language · 6 questions · about 1 min to read

Mauss and the Gift

Read the passage, answer the questions, then open each answer to check it. The explanation says why the right option is right.

The passage

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In 1925, the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss published a short essay called The Gift, arguing that the exchange of gifts in traditional societies was not the free and voluntary act it appeared to be. The gift, Mauss observed, always carries an obligation: the obligation to give, the obligation to receive, and the obligation to reciprocate. A gift that is not reciprocated creates a social debt. A gift that is refused is an insult. The apparent generosity of giving is inseparable from a system of social obligation and hierarchy.

Mauss was interested in what he called the ‘total social fact’ — the way in which a single institution or practice could simultaneously express economic, legal, moral, religious, and aesthetic dimensions of social life. Gift exchange, he argued, was such a fact: it was never merely the transfer of an object. It was the transfer of a part of the giver, an act of social bonding, a claim on future reciprocity, and a statement of relative status.

The relevance of Mauss’s analysis to contemporary life is uncomfortable for those who prefer to think of gifts as purely altruistic. The birthday gift that creates awkwardness when the recipient gives a smaller return gift, the hospitality that must eventually be returned, the donation that carries with it an expectation of acknowledgment — all of these reflect the logic Mauss identified a century ago. Pure altruism, if it exists at all, may require the systematic suppression of the social logic that makes gifts meaningful in the first place.

  1. Q1. Mauss’s central claim about gift-giving in traditional societies was that:

    1. Traditional societies were more generous than modern ones because exchange was based on surplus rather than scarcity
    2. The gift always carries obligations — to give, to receive, and to reciprocate — and is embedded in a system of social obligation
    3. Gift exchange was the earliest form of market economy and preceded the invention of money
    4. The value of a gift was determined entirely by the emotional relationship between giver and recipient
    Show answer

    Answer: B. The gift always carries obligations — to give, to receive, and to reciprocate — and is embedded in a system of social obligation

    The passage states Mauss argued 'the gift always carries an obligation: the obligation to give, the obligation to receive, and the obligation to reciprocate.'

  2. Q2. A ‘total social fact,’ as Mauss used the term, refers to:

    1. A social practice that is universal across all human cultures
    2. A single institution or practice that simultaneously expresses economic, legal, moral, religious, and aesthetic dimensions of social life
    3. The sum total of all social facts in a given society
    4. A sociological concept that explains the totality of human behaviour
    Show answer

    Answer: B. A single institution or practice that simultaneously expresses economic, legal, moral, religious, and aesthetic dimensions of social life

    The passage defines it: 'the way in which a single institution or practice could simultaneously express economic, legal, moral, religious, and aesthetic dimensions of social life.'

  3. Q3. According to the passage, a gift that is refused is:

    1. An expression of independence from social obligation
    2. A neutral social act that carries no particular meaning
    3. An insult
    4. A sign of modesty or humility in traditional societies
    Show answer

    Answer: C. An insult

    The passage states: 'A gift that is refused is an insult.'

  4. Q4. The passage gives which of the following as a contemporary example of the social logic Mauss identified?

    1. The practice of tipping in restaurants, which compensates service workers for their labour
    2. The birthday gift that creates awkwardness when the recipient gives a smaller return gift
    3. Online crowdfunding, which enables strangers to contribute to a common cause
    4. Corporate social responsibility programmes that companies use to improve their public image
    Show answer

    Answer: B. The birthday gift that creates awkwardness when the recipient gives a smaller return gift

    The passage lists: 'The birthday gift that creates awkwardness when the recipient gives a smaller return gift' as a contemporary example of gift obligation logic.

  5. Q5. The passage states that gift exchange was ‘never merely the transfer of an object.’ Which of the following dimensions does it NOT mention?

    1. The transfer of a part of the giver
    2. An act of social bonding
    3. A claim on future reciprocity
    4. A declaration of romantic interest
    Show answer

    Answer: D. A declaration of romantic interest

    The passage lists: 'transfer of a part of the giver, an act of social bonding, a claim on future reciprocity, and a statement of relative status.' Romantic interest is not mentioned.

  6. Q6. The passage concludes that ‘pure altruism, if it exists at all, may require the systematic suppression of the social logic that makes gifts meaningful.’ This implies that:

    1. Altruism is impossible and all giving is ultimately self-interested
    2. To give without any expectation of return requires actively working against the social structures that normally make gift-giving meaningful
    3. Traditional societies had no concept of altruism because they were too embedded in social obligation
    4. Modern anonymous charitable giving is the purest form of altruism because it removes the social element entirely
    Show answer

    Answer: B. To give without any expectation of return requires actively working against the social structures that normally make gift-giving meaningful

    The passage does not say altruism is impossible (it says 'if it exists at all') but implies that achieving it requires suppressing the deep social logic of obligation that normally accompanies giving and makes it socially meaningful.

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