ABSTRACT
According to Marcel Mauss, the archaic gift exchange represents a system of total services between groups. On the level of social theory, Mauss works out, in various approaches, that action takes place in reciprocal aspects. Mauss aims at a re-establishment of socio-economic forms of action: cooperatives, non-profit organizations, donations, foundations, civic engagement the field of resource transfer is currently identified with these concepts, which are traced back to the logic neither of the market nor of state allocation. On the other hand, it is not limited to the totality of a society; it also acts above this entity in intersocietal contact. Gifts and trust are fundamentally important for the cooperation of actors, particularly whenever one cannot assume an already shared common culture. For Durkheim, social totality develops through intrasocietal religious representation, whereas for Mauss, it can only develop in contact with other groups and thus linked to external commitments.
