Marcel Mauss

Marcel Mauss was a French sociologist. The nephew of mile Durkheim, Mausss academic work traversed the boundaries between sociology and anthropology. Today, he is perhaps better recognised for his influence on the latter discipline, particularly with respect to his analyses of topics such as magic, sacrifice and gift exchange in different cultures around the world. Mauss had a significant influence upon Claude LviStrauss, the founder of structural anthropology. His most famous book is The Gift .

Mauss was born in pinal, Vosges to a Jewish family, and studied philosophy at Bordeaux, where his maternal uncle mile Durkheim was teaching at the time. He passed the agrgation in 1893. He was also first cousin of the much younger Claudette Bloch, a marine biologist and mother of Maurice Bloch, who became a noted anthropologist. Instead of taking the usual route of teaching at a lyce following college, Mauss moved to Paris and took up the study of comparative religion and Sanskrit.

Source: Wikipedia