The Organizational Gift and Sociological Approaches to Exchange
Résumé
This paper studies the specific form of gift-giving behavior in which an organization, or a set of organizations, intervenes between the donor and the donee. It is suggested that this should be called an organizational gift, or "organic gift". Following Richard Titmuss' insights, the first part considers what happens in the domain of biomedicine, examining here what is meant by a "gift" in the case of organ transplantation, in contrast to the Maussian conceptualization of gift-giving behavior. The second part elaborates this finding, and delineates the main characteristics of this modern form of gift, entailing the presence of organizations in the absence of which the donor and the donee could neither give nor receive. The final part broaden the perspective, including a review of Karl Polanyi's conception of reciprocity as an integrative form of economic activity, providing a new way of mapping the forms of exchange which present themselves as alternatives to market exchange in our current market societies.
Cet article étudie la forme particulière de don qui est à l'oeuvre lorsqu'une organisation, ou un ensemble d'organisations, prend place entre le donateur et le donataire. Ce que l'on peut appeler don organisationnel ou don organique. A la suite des réflexions de Richard Titmuss, la première partie de l'article étudie le déroulement du don dans la transplantation d'organes. La seconde partie caractérise cette nouvelle forme de don dans laquelle en l'absence des organisations le donateur et le donataire ne pourraient se rencontrer. La dernière partie de l'article montre comment le don organisationnel prend place dans une version renouvelée de la cartographie polanyienne des échanges.
Domaines
Sociologie
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