1. Why does Mauss see exchange as linking not just persons and things, but different persons with each other? What are the moral and economic obligations surrounding gift exchange?

2. How does Mauss characterize pre-capitalist societies? How does his view compare to that of Polanyi, formalists, Scott, or Chayanov?

3. Mauss ends his book by criticizing Western European capitalism for being "at odds with morality" (66). What, specifically, does he mean by this? Do you agree?

4. What does Mauss mean by a "total social fact"? Why is gift exchange one of these total social facts?

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