“The Gift” reading notes
preface
This book is a summary of the previous six months from the comments “aim” to a book, the title is very interesting, so after writing down the title of the book directly bought a book to read, read more quickly, my mind does not remember much content, so here will quote a lot of content from the book.
Introduction to the
Title: Gift
Author: [Fa] Marcel Moss
Recommended language
Strange, written by a French book, “the present” referred to in the culture is like “gift” and human social culture of China, and speak very profound hit the nail on the head, in ancient times, many areas and primitive clan is a special form of social communication, the author in the book will be referred to as: “boast rich feast”. But the real meaning is much more than that. As Chinese, we all take this ideology for granted, but do we really know whether it is a rule or a kind of “dedication”?
Recommended level
4 stars, the content is really not easy to understand, maybe a lot of people will go backward to play the phone after reading a little bit (in fact, I also skipped reading to finish the book), but when looking back at the preface, I mentioned that the author was unknown, so I added a little points.
This book is not a bad book or a hypnotic book, on the contrary, if you read it carefully, it will bring you more resonance and thinking. I hope that more people can understand this unknown Frenchman.
Personal assessment
The key word in the Gift is: exchange. Can say no matter from the birth of human beings and social life, and interpersonal relationship, can through the perspective of exchange to interpretation, and to illustrate in the theme of this book is about exchange, exchange contract constitute an invisible social rules, “the past won much kudos with me, I will be one hundred times of”, there are many kinds of exchange, substantial gift exchange, the exchange of human, We need to ask for help, we usually thank people afterwards, birthdays, we give birthday presents, all these seemingly ordinary rules of human relations, but they have deep historical roots.
This book can be regarded as a popular science book, can also be regarded as a social theory book to read, of course, this book is originally put in the sociology section. Reading this book can be better digested and absorbed in terms of understanding social history. This kind of book is to increase the knowledge of books, I believe that there will be a lot of resonance after reading.
The preface
The prologue will give you a sense of marcel Moss and the heart of the book: what is given in a gift? What people really give and accept is utility, right? Is friendship? Hostility?
Boast rich feast
In simple terms, it can be seen as a statement of power. For example, in order to publicize their status as lords, chimpanzees usually call all the members together to make something like a “declaration”. In the form of a feast, it is all or nothing. In these grand festivals, each man strives to give more than the other in order to “outdo the other” and put the other “in the shadow of his name.” Whoever appears to have the most to lose is the winner of this contest, and the logic of this contest is closely related to the desperate struggle for recognition that Hegel describes in the dialectic of master and slave.
As for the core of the word, there is no doubt: credit and glory. I lent you, not only are you still, and will also double, because I not only borrow the material, but also possess the borrower’s credit, this is a kind of intangible equivalent exchange, although debit not lost anything, but this time he has lost his credit, if he has fulfilled his promise, he’ll lose his glory, And he will lose much more than he gains. He will be a loser. What does the feast have to do with this? The simplest way to understand it is that I protect you, and you want to give me “protection money”.
Race and Gift
Samoa’s ‘gift’
When the Samoan people get married, they will use the way of exchanging ornaments for some kind of ceremony. But Samoa gift not only embodies in marriage, in life, birth, rite, and so on all have reflected, the same there are significant for Samoa boast rich feast “honor” exchange and subsequent feedback obligations, in domestic is your New Year’s day how many red envelopes, in normal times would treat or any other way put this “duty” is back.
I don’t know about readers, at least where I come from, it’s like…. in Samoa Full moon wine, half moon wine, one year wine, graduation ceremony, wedding ceremony…… To return much more than when I was a child….. Beside the point, anyway, Samoan gifts have an obvious element of bragging and showing off, which is human nature, right?
The Maori ‘gift’
Maori gift as a kind of “spirit”, I don’t take notes about the esoteric interpretation also look not to understand (I), here said the “luxury” this stuff, the “house” can be viewed as a person’s spirit, although the spirit of exchange do not need to use a specific value to measure, but when I was once the house to you, when you return you must send out better than I do. This practice is a bit like the gold axe silver axe, can also be seen as invisible usury.
Archipelago ‘gift’
Archipelago refers to the islands mentioned in the second sheet, so I don’t bother to copy the names, but I can’t remember them anyway, so I just classify them as islands.
You might be naive to think that you can simply refuse a gift, but the second chapter of the book summarizes the non-refusal of gifts. In some primitive clans gifts were seen as a contract to maintain a relationship. In order to stabilize the relationship, people will doubt their direct relationship with the other person, and also worry about whether the other person will refuse the gift, simply called the “chain of suspicion”, which makes it difficult to get out of the circle. If you have to compare, it can be seen as a corporate team-building activity, you can not go, but the consequences will be serious, this is not a “gift” to refuse. I didn’t really think of anything else.
In addition, there is a ritual in the archipelago called kula, which is an aristocratic ritual in which the chief gives gifts to his subordinates or relatives and their corresponding children. However, this “gift” is undoubtedly very expensive, which represents the reputation and honor of the chief. In order to “maintain” the chief’s honor, the recipient needs to return more expensive items, or to be loyal to the chief and work for him with all his heart. Yes, this Kula is directly understood as Chinese New Year’s greetings.
Northwest America
The Indians are unique in that they don’t give gifts or barter, but rather splurge, which is a little more difficult to understand if you look at this section again, because the Indians would choose to plunder fur, gold, food, treasures and other “valuables” in high season. Then, in special seasons, they splurge on feasts from morning till night (imagine dancing around a bonfire on TV), and the clans visit each other repeatedly, as if to “give” away their own homes. , of course, this kind of practice is good, because in after a long time, these “assets”, not only would gladly return, and will give more, so a lot of poor people will choose to invest this time, Indian family out of poverty in the future, even to be seen as an opportunity to “roll over”, so they will be more efforts for furs, robbing more supplies.
I think in native American eyes, grant is an “investment,” you put your wealth into the present, you will return in the future. Part of the meaning of this idea, which is worth learning today, is to delay gratification. Delaying gratification is a great way to control your desire to spend. In addition, this behavior of The Indians is obviously very rich with the characteristics of the feast, but this utility to maintain the stability and development of the clan is a good way.
Obligation: give, receive, return
The root of all evil is to give, and it is also the beginning of boasting, and the obligation to return is the end of boasting, whatever the process, which is the process of carrying out boasting. The concept of the power of things is mentioned here. The simple understanding is that although your gift is out of your hand, the object still retains your “soul”. The object without the “soul” can be discarded at will, but once there is a “soul”, it needs to consider how to store and how to treat, which generates a kind of thinking value. And the longer it is sent, the greater its power. For example, if you receive a gift at the beginning of the year for your birthday, your friend’s birthday at the end of the year, you need to go out of your way to give a gift.
So these three things form a ring, and you have to be very careful about jumping into this obligation trap.
The law and the feast of riches
This is actually the first chapter, because the author’s earliest inspiration is from the law, so you can see that the discussion in this chapter is very deep and very specific. How the Germanic, Indian, and Roman laws embodied the character of the feast.
The Roman
Rome as “mortgage” is a kind of witchcraft, when objects are mortgaged, the trading of goods will be seen as tokens, but Rome’s mortgage while in the law of no value, but in fact is more of a property mortgage, and early to rise is a movable property, to gradually become a real estate back, eventually forming a ritual of similar to the contract, This is why it developed into witchcraft.
India
In ancient India there are strict caste system, so one can imagine the written law, research, also only will their behavior as a religious service of “please”, like it or not is another matter, of course, India because of its particularity, formed the dual system of kua fu, this is a piece of personal watched several times also don’t understand the three ideas, Here’s a quick excerpt from the book:
What is given will produce a reward in this life or the next. Note 392a: What is given is not lost; it reproduces itself; People will get the same in the other side, and add value. The food given returns to the giver in this lifetime; At the same time, it will be food for the giver in the other world; Moreover, this food will appear in his subsequent rebirth. It will become a well and spring water for others to quench his thirst. It will become clothing and money for him in all ages, and it will be for him in the scorching sun.
germans
The Germanic behavior is actually similar to that of the Romans, and there are also mortgages and sacrifices, and the Germanic history is interesting. The content has been repeated before, so I won’t repeat it here. (Actually is too lazy to write)
conclusion
If from the inspiration of the book, I personally understanding is to borrow money is most can test of one’s personality, you don’t need too much, just a few hundred pieces, this method is efficacious, although it is a darker, but give a person “gifts” can let you see a person, in the life out of “gifts” deals, as far as possible at the same time be careful commitment and the glory, These intangible things are not only very valuable but also determine your future development, do not easily waste, especially when you are in trouble.
Here are some of my rules:
- I will not wait for anyone, and I will not let anyone wait for me
- If a friend is not punctual more than twice, there will be no next gathering.
- Keep a friend who doesn’t pay you back as far away as possible, no matter how well he has helped you.
- What you say you will do, what you cannot do, say
- Never leave a bad job in your own hands, find a way to throw it out or “reduce” the power
Write in the last
It’s been a while since I’ve written my reading notes and I feel a little rusty. In addition, the personal blog has not been more for a long time. On the evening of August 17, all the articles so far have been synchronized to….. That’s what you said =-=