Mauss Marcel - Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo A Study in Social Morphology

Routledge Library Editions

Routledge Library Editions
Anthropology and Ethnography

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
In 16 Volumes

A Study in Social Morphology

MARCEL MAUSS

First published in 1979

Reprinted in 2004 by
Routledge
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Transferred to Digital Printing 2006

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

1950 Presses Universitaires de France
English translation 1979 Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo
ISBN 978-0-415-33035-0

Miniset: Social and Cultural Anthropology

Series: Routledge Library Editions Anthropology and Ethnography

Printed and bound by CPI Antony Rowe, Eastbourne

A Study in Social Morphology

Marcel Mauss
in collaboration with
Henri Beuchat

Translated, with a Foreword, by James J. Fox

Published as Essai sur les variations saisonnires des socits
Eskimos: tude de morphologie sociale, Part VII of
Sociologie et anthropologie
Presses Universitaires de France 1950
This translation first published in 1979
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
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London WC1E 7DD,
Broadway House,
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Set in Compugraphic Times

The Trinity Press, Worcester, and London
English translation Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 1979
No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the
publisher, except for the quotation of brief
passages in criticism

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Mauss, Marcel

Seasonal variations of the Eskimo.
1. Eskimos - Social life and customs
I. Title II. Beuchat, Henri
301.31 E99.E7 79-40172

ISBN 0 7100 0205 X

Mauss tait un philosophe, un thoricien, qui stait tourn vers le concret, qui avait appris que cest seulement au contact troit des donnes que la sociologie peut progresser.

Louis Dumont

In a strict sense, this is the eighth

A significant feature of this series of translations is, however, its focus on the work of Marcel Mauss. This is itself indicative of the fact that so much of Mausss lifes work was inextricably linked with the Anne sociologique, both with the original series which ran from 1898 to 1913 and with the new series which Mauss attempted, unsuccessfully, to revive in 1925. Four of the eight translations that have so far appeared are of collaborative works by Mauss published in the Anne sociologique. These include his essay on Sacrifice, written with Hubert (1899), on Primitive Classification written with Durkheim (1903), on A General Theory of Magic written with Hubert (1904) and on The Gift (1925) undoubtedly Mausss best-known essay which is no less the result of a collaborative effort than Mausss other studies, since it forms part of an investigation that Mauss undertook with his colleague, Georges Davy.

This present translation, Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo: a Study in Social Morphology, is a further important essay by Mauss, this time written in collaboration with Henri Beuchat.

The theoretical implications of the essay are far more various. Mauss saw the essay as a demonstration of the tenet, derived from Mill, that a single case study, well-conceived and well-executed, is sufficient to establish a general social principle. The principle here concerns the effects of seasonal variations within society, for which the Eskimo offered a privileged field of study because of the extreme prominence of such variations among them. This initial perception of seasonal variations has since been reconfirmed and documented For Mauss, however, the critical feature was not merely the recognition of this phenomenon but the establishment of a principle. For this reason, the essay is subtitled: A Study in Social Morphology.

The plan of the Anne sociologique was to encompass the social sciences, and its review sections were therefore intended to embody a general outline of sociology. Most of these review sections retained the same rubric throughout the period of