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The work frames magic through its sources, definition, constituent elements, and explanations, analyzing the role of the magician, ritual actions, representations, belief, mana, and collective states. The foreword situates the translation in relation to Lévi-Strauss’s scholarship and emphasizes the book’s aim to dissolve “magic” as a conceptual label while clarifying its significance for modern readers.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":45,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/religion-spirituality/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/marcel-mauss-a-general-theory-of-magic/575602/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/marcel-mauss-a-general-theory-of-magic/575602.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"McGucket","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-14",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"What is the central aim of Mauss’s work as presented in the foreword?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"The foreword presents the work as contributing to the dissolution of “magic” as a separate category. It argues that the book’s importance lies in how it reframes the concept for modern readers.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"How does the book organize its discussion of magic?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"It begins with sources and historical background, then provides a definition of magic, followed by its elements. It later analyzes and explains magic through topics such as belief, ritual effectiveness, mana, and collective states.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"Which scholars are highlighted in connection with this translation?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"The foreword emphasizes Lévi-Strauss’s earlier engagement with Théorie de la magie and describes D. F. Pocock’s role in introducing the translation of Dr Brain’s work.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},575602,1792016245,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":44,"category_name":45,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":128,"read_time":143},1236954412713,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","A General Theory of Magic  \n‘It is enough to recall that Mauss’s influence is not limited to ethnographers, none of whom could claim to have escaped it, but extends also to linguists, psychologists, historians of religion and orientalists.’  \nClaude Lévi-Strauss  \n‘Marcel Mauss, Emile Durkheim’s nephew and most distinguished pupil, was a man of unusual ability and learning, and also of integrity and strong conviction. After Durkheim’s death he was the leading figure in French sociology.’  \nSir E. E. Evans-Pritchard  \nMarcel  \nMauss  \nA General Theory of Magic  \nTranslated by Robert Brain  \nWith a foreword by D. F. Pocock  \nLondon and  \nNew York  \nFirst published, in collaboration with Henri Hubert, in Anné sociologique, 1902. This translation is based on the edition published in Sociologie et anthropologie, 1950  \n© 1950 Presses Universitaires de France  \nEnglish translation by Robert Brain, first published 1972  \nby Routledge and Kegan Paul © 1972 Robert Brain  \nFirst published in Routledge Classics 2001  \nby Routledge  \n11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE  \n29 West 35th Street, New York NY 10001  \nRoutledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group  \nThis edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.  \n“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of [eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk](eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk).”  \nAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.  \nBritish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data  \nA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been applied for  \nISBN 0-203-99614-3 Master e-book ISBN  \nISBN 0–415–25550–3 (hbk)  \nISBN 0–415–25396–9 (pbk)  \nCONTENTS  \nForeword by Dr D. F. Pocock 1  \nPrologue 9  \n1 Sources and Historical Background 14  \n2 A Definition of Magic 22  \n3 The Elements of Magic 31  \n1 The Magician 31  \n2 The Actions 55  \n3 Representations 75  \n4 General Observations 106  \n4 An Analysis and Explanation of Magic 112  \n1 Belief 113  \n2 An Analysis of Ideological Explanations Concerning the Effectiveness of Ritual 120  \n3 Mana 133  \n4 Collective States and Collective Forces 150  \nvi contents  \n5 Conclusion 174  \nIndex 179  \nFOREWORD  \nby David Pocock  \nSchool of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex  \nIn introducing Dr Brain’s excellent translation I am acutely conscious that Professor Lévi-Strauss has not only written about Théorie de la magie at some length but also made it the occasion fora major, if early, statement of position.1 Because this important document has not yet been translated I believe that I shall do the reader of the present work more service by drawing his attention to it rather than attempting something in the nature of an original essay. I shall write of Mauss’s Theory of Magic in the perspective of Lévi-Strauss’s own achievement which, in my opinion, gives it retrospectively its significance for the modern reader.  \nIt may seem paradoxical to say that the importance of the present work is that it contributes to the dissolution of ‘magic’ asa category, nevertheless this is the claim made for it. The need for such an act of dissolution is to be found in the earlier history of ethnology.  \nCriticisms of social Darwinism in the nineteenth century are easily made and, in the process, many of the still relevant  \n2 foreword  \nachievements of the period are neglected. One of the most important of these, at a time when notions of ‘enlightenment’and ‘progress’ threatened to divide humanity along what today we would call ‘racialist’ lines according to innate capacity, was that the applicati","cbCaisSbYuWFEUeZ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisSbYuWFEUeZ","pdf",996160,190,"English","# Foreword by Dr D. F. Pocock\n## Prologue\n## Sources and Historical Background\n## A Definition of Magic\n## The Elements of Magic\n## An Analysis and Explanation of Magic\n## Conclusion\n## Index","[{\"question\":\"What is the central aim of Mauss’s work as presented in the foreword?\",\"answer\":\"The foreword presents the work as contributing to the dissolution of “magic” as a separate category. It argues that the book’s importance lies in how it reframes the concept for modern readers.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the book organize its discussion of magic?\",\"answer\":\"It begins with sources and historical background, then provides a definition of magic, followed by its elements. It later analyzes and explains magic through topics such as belief, ritual effectiveness, mana, and collective states.\"},{\"question\":\"Which scholars are highlighted in connection with this translation?\",\"answer\":\"The foreword emphasizes Lévi-Strauss’s earlier engagement with Théorie de la magie and describes D. F. Pocock’s role in introducing the translation of Dr Brain’s work.\"}]","Marcel Mauss - A General Theory of Magic | PDF",479]