Editing Marcel Mauss (section)

==Background==

=== Family and education ===
Mauss was born in [[Épinal]], [[Vosges (department)|Vosges]], to a [[Jewish]] family, his father a merchant and his mother an embroidery shop owner. Unlike his younger brother, Mauss did not join the family business and instead he joined the socialist and cooperative movement in the Vosges. Following the death of his grandfather, the Mauss and Durkheim families grew close and at this time Mauss began to feel concerned about his education and took initiatives in order to learn. Mauss obtained a religious education and was bar mitzvahed, yet by the age of eighteen he stopped practicing his religion.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Fournier |first1=Marcel |title=Marcel Mauss: A Biography |date=1994 |publisher=Arthème Fayard |location=France |isbn=0691117772 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xjl_1f4O8QQC&q=Marcel+Mauss&pg=PR5}}</ref>

Mauss studied [[philosophy]] at [[Bordeaux]], where his maternal uncle [[Émile Durkheim]] was teaching at the time. In the 1890s, Mauss began his lifelong study of [[linguistics]], [[Indology]], [[Sanskrit]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and the '[[history of religions]] and uncivilized peoples' at the [[École pratique des hautes études]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Social Thought: From Enlightenment to the Present|last=Sica|first=Alan|pages=306}}</ref> He passed the ''[[agrégation]]'' in 1893. He was also the first cousin of the much younger Claudette (née Raphael) Bloch, a marine biologist and mother of [[Maurice Bloch]], who became a noted anthropologist. Instead of taking the usual route of teaching at a [[lycée]] following college, Mauss moved to Paris and took up the study of [[comparative religion]] and Sanskrit.

=== Academic career ===
His first publication in 1896 marked the beginning of a prolific career that would produce several landmarks in sociological literature. Like many members of the {{Lang|fr|L'Année sociologique}} group, Mauss was attracted to socialism, especially that espoused by [[Jean Jaurès]]. He was particularly engaged around the antisemitic events of the [[Dreyfus affair]]. Towards the end of the century, he helped edit such left-wing papers as {{Lang|fr|[[Le Populaire]]}}, {{Lang|fr|[[L'Humanité]]}} and {{Lang|fr|[[Le Mouvement socialiste]]}}, the last in collaboration with [[Georges Sorel]].

In 1901, Mauss began drawing more on ethnography, and his work began to develop characteristics now associated with formal anthropology.

Mauss served in the French army during World War I from 1914 to 1919 as an interpreter.<ref name="Scott">{{Cite book|title=Fifty Key Sociologists: The Formative Theorists|last=Scott|first=John}}</ref> The military service was liberating from Mauss's intense academics, as he stated, "I'm doing wonderfully. I just wasn't made for the intellectual life and I am enjoying the life war is giving me" (Fournier 2006: 175). While liberating, he also dealt with the devastation and violence of the war as many of his friends and colleagues died in the war, and his uncle Durkheim died shortly before its end. Mauss began to write a book "On Politics" that remained unfinished, but the early 1920s emphasized his energy for politics through criticism of the Bolshevik's coercive resort to violence and their destruction of the [[market economy]].<ref name="Marcel Mauss: In Pursuit of the Who">{{cite book |last1=Hart |first1=Keith |title=Marcel Mauss: In Pursuit of the Whole |date=2007 |publisher=Anthropology, Goldsmiths University of London}}</ref>

Like many other followers of Durkheim, Mauss took refuge in administration. He secured Durkheim's legacy by founding institutions to carry out research, such as {{Lang|fr|Institut Français de Sociologie}} (1924) and {{Lang|fr|Institut d'Ethnologie}} in 1926. These institutions stimulated the development of fieldwork-based anthropology by young academics. Among the students he influenced were [[George Devereux]], Jeanne Cuisinier, [[Alfred Métraux|Alfred Metraux]], [[Marcel Griaule]], [[Georges Dumézil|Georges Dumezil]], [[Denise Paulme]], [[Michel Leiris]], [[Germaine Dieterlen]], [[Louis Dumont]], [[André-Georges Haudricourt|Andre-Georges Haudricourt]], [[Jacques Soustelle]], and [[Germaine Tillion]].<ref name="Scott"/>

In 1901, Mauss was appointed to the Chair of the History of Religions of Non-Civilized Peoples at the [[École pratique des hautes études]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Cultural Theorists|last1=Cashmore|first1=Ellis|last2=Rojek|publisher=Chris}}</ref> Two years later in 1931 Mauss was elected as the first holder of the Chair of Sociology in the {{Lang|fr|Collège de France}}, and soon after he married his secretary in 1934 who soon was bedridden after a poisonous gas incident. Later, in 1940, Mauss was forced out of his job as the Chair of Sociology and out of Paris due to the German occupation and anti-Semitic legislation passed. Mauss remained socially isolated following the war and died in 1950.<ref name="Marcel Mauss: In Pursuit of the Who"/>

=== Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss: the uncle and the nephew ===

Moïse Durkheim and Mélanie Isidor, the parents of [[Émile Durkheim]], had four children: Rosine (1848–1930), Félix (1850–1889), Céline (1851–1931), and Émile (1858–1917).<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Durkheim |first=Émile |title=Lettres à Marcel Mauss |date=1998 |publisher=PUF |isbn=978-2-13-049099-9 |editor-last=Besnard |editor-first=Philippe |edition=1re éd |series=Sociologies |location=Paris |pages=2–3, 5, 12, 23, 25, 41, 42 |language=French |trans-title=Letters to Marcel Mauss |editor-last2=Fournier |editor-first2=Marcel}}</ref> Marcel Israël Mauss was one of the two children of Rosine Mauss and Gerson Mauss, alongside his younger brother Camille Henri Mauss.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Fournier |first1=Marcel |title=Marcel Mauss: a biography |date=2006 |publisher=Princeton Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-691-11777-5 |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=13, 18, 24, 28, 37, 53}}</ref> Both the uncle and nephew were born in [[Épinal|Épinal, France]], with a fourteen-year age difference.<ref name=":1" /><ref>“David Emile Durkheim in the Paris, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1555-1929.” 2021. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Actes de naissance, de mariage et de décès. Archives de Paris. <nowiki>https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/3298914:62058?tid=&pid=&queryid=23224436-a30b-4dab-96f2-45f16bd68a80&_phsrc=Otr50&_phstart=successSource</nowiki>.</ref> Religion is a keyword in the family life of both Mauss and Durkheim, with Moïse Durkheim being the [[rabbi]] of Épinal and chief rabbi of Vosges.<ref name=":1" /> Although both Mauss and Durkheim later set themselves away from religious beliefs and practices, this contributed to their mutual interest in studying the history and sociology of religion.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Durkheim, Émile. 1907. “Lettre Au Directeur,” 1907. In ''Textes'', by Émile Durkheim, 1:404.</ref>

In 1887, Émile Durkheim was appointed to the [[University of Bordeaux|Université de Bordeaux]].<ref name=":2" /> He was later joined by his nephew in 1890, who was preparing for his degree in philosophy at Bordeaux.<ref name=":1" /> During their time at [[Bordeaux]], Durkheim constantly interacted with Mauss through letters, guiding him in academic work and personal life. Between 1893 and 1894, when Mauss started to prepare for ''[[Agrégation]]'', Durkheim, a philosophy ''agrégé'' and a member of the exam board, tutored Mauss for the exam.<ref name=":2" /> Durkheim also helped connect Mauss with [[Octave Hamelin]], who became Mauss's close friend and an important tutor.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, December 10, 1893. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 25.</ref> Durkheim defined his correspondence with Mauss as:<ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, June 18, 1894. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 34-36.</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=“This correspondence which I would have liked to have been more regular was precisely intended to allow me to follow you and to prevent you from working without a goal. One must always have in view a project to carry out.”|author=Émile Durkheim|title=Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, June 18, 1894.|source=}}

During their time in Bordeaux, Durkheim was a strict and responsible tutor to Mauss. In their interactions through letters,  Durkheim frequently demands Mauss to provide timely updates on his studies and his interactions with Rosine and his tutors.<ref name=":2" /> He stressed his responsibility to train him:<ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, 1899. In ''Marcel Mauss: A Biography'', by Marcel Fournier. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. pp. 20.</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=“I’m the one [your mother] asked to train you. I trained you according to my ideals. One must accept the consequences of what one desired. She is free to regret it, but she cannot hold it against you.”|author=Émile Durkheim|title=Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, 1899.}}

The interactions between Durkheim and Mauss were not one-way help and guidance.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Mauss |first=Marcel |date=1979 |editor-last=Besnard |editor-first=Philippe |title=L'œuvre de Mauss par lui-même |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3321272 |journal=Revue française de sociologie |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=209–220 |doi=10.2307/3321272 |jstor=3321272 |issn=0035-2969|url-access=subscription }}</ref> When working on his book ''[[Suicide (Durkheim book)|Suicide]]'', Durkheim asked Mauss to help him annotate articles on suicide cases in the German army, England and Wales, and Spain, with a special focus on ranks and years of service in the army, gender, and professions.<ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, 1896. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 43.</ref> Mauss then helped Durkheim compile the statistical tables in ''Suicide''.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, 1896. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 44.</ref> Durkheim, being a controversial figure in academia at the time, also seeks information about himself and other scholars’ interests in ''[[L'Année sociologique|L’Année Sociologique]]'' from Mauss, although stressing it to be “secondary” when compared to updating on what Mauss was doing:<ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, February–March, 1894. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 28-31.</ref><ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, May 15, 1894, Bordeaux. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 31-32.</ref><ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, Late November-Early December, 1896. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 48.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lukes |first=Steven |title=Emile Durkheim: his life and work; a historical and critical study |date=1990 |publisher=Stanford Univ. Pr |isbn=978-0-8047-1283-5 |location=Stanford, Calif |pages=74}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=“Its [Mauss's correspondence with Durkheim] purpose is to keep me informed of what you are doing, not to give me studied reports on what is happening in Paris. You must write to me for the sake of writing to me, so that I do not lose sight of you and not to send me chronicles. That, secondarily, you tell me everything that is happening, nothing better, since it is in my interest to be informed, but that is secondary. Now here we are at the end of the year and I know nothing of what you have done. I expect that you will stop your malpractices. What did Brochard tell you about your work? How are your other projects going? That is what I want to be informed about. After that, when you know something about me, you will tell me.”|author=Émile Durkheim|title=Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, May 15, 1894, Bordeaux.}}

Mauss started assisting Durkheim in organizing and launching the ''L’Année Sociologique'' between 1895 and 1902.<ref name=":3" /> Mauss helped his uncle to recruit potential collaborators, including [[Paul Fauconnet]], [[Henri Hubert]], and [[Albert Millaud|Albert Milhaud]].<ref name=":1" /> Durkheim envisioned the role of his nephew to be the “linchpin” in the formation of the journal and the broader theoretical transformation it would bring.'''<ref name=":1" />'''<ref name=":4">Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, June, 1897. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 70-74.</ref> Mauss was assigned to work on the [[Sociology of religion|religious sociology]] section, the most important section for Durkheim, as he envisioned the journal to “create religious sociology” and to “make religion, no longer economics, the matrix of [[social fact]]s.”<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, monday morning, June, 1897. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 67-70.</ref> Other than recruitment, Mauss was assigned by Durkheim to work up a “list of important works that he think it would be useful to have” and “catalog them by subject.”<ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, May, 1897. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 56.</ref>

The collaboration between the uncle and nephew was not always smooth. Durkheim frequently scolded Mauss in their correspondence about his punctuality and over-complication:<ref>Durkheim, Émile. Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, June 19, 1897. In ''Lettres à Marcel Mauss'', edited by Philippe Besnard and Marcel Fournier. Sociologies. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. pp. 66.</ref><ref name=":5" />

{{Blockquote|text=“We are thus approaching the month of July. Do you not feel the march of time? Two months have passed since Easter. That is a long time to draw up a list of books.”|author=Émile Durkheim|title=Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, June 19, 1897.}}{{Blockquote|text=“Your list is arriving; it is a real desolation for me. For I see that you do not at all represent to yourself what there is to do, and instead of helping me to resolve the difficulties, you complicate them in such proportions, that, seeing the obstacles reappear as I believed to have overcome them, I had a moment of discouragement.”|author=Émile Durkheim|title=Letter from Émile Durkheim to Marcel Mauss, monday morning, June, 1897.}}