NUSS- a Non-Utilitarian Social Science
Une science sociale non-utilitariste

A PEKEA Working Group

An important part of analyses carried out in social sciences are erected on an utilitarian basic premise as there is the hypothesis that individual and collective behaviours are mainly motivated by an utilitarian position. Following the teaching of Marcel Mauss, it seems necessary for any rigorous approach to oppose this reductionism and to take into account all the importance of non-utilitarian motives. This is what is doing an intellectual movement launched in France at the beginning of the eighties and entitled MAUSS (Mouvement AntiUtilitariste en Sciences Sociales); it is gathering academics and researchers from various disciplines in the social sciences around a biannual Review and a collection of books which has produced more than one hundred of books, mainly in French, but some have been translated into English, Italian and other languages. To get more information visit their website :la Revue du Mauss (soit : http://www.revuedumauss.com )
Partnering with PEKEA, Mauss is launching an international workshop to participate in a research that could enhance the building of a non utilitarian social science

Coordinators :
Mr Alain Caillé, Sociology, France, Mr Jacques T. Godbout, Sociology, Canada and Mr Paulo Henrique Martins, Sociology, Brazil


A few texts are available only from this page. For all texts you may send a comment to their authors or to the coordinators.
List of texts prepared for this page

Texts that have been presented at previous PEKEA's conferences

List of, and access to texts prepared for this page

" Anti-utilitarianism, economics and the gift-paradigm "

by Mr Alain Caillé, Sociology, Professor University of Paris X, Nanterre, Director of Revue du MAUSS,mauss1981@aol.com


" Une vision du paradigme du don : Don, juste milieu et prudence "
by Mr Sylvain Dzimira, professeur de sciences économiques et sociales, chargé de cours à l’université Paris XII,

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Texts that have been discussed during previous PEKEA's Conferences



PEKEA 2006 Conference in Dakar


Godbout, Jacques, Mr, Acad, Sociology, Canada, "Le holisme est-il nécessairement contraignant ? »-[P3]


Martins, Paulo Henrique, Mr, Acad, Sociology, Brazil, "Sociedade Civil, Diversidade Identitária e Luta pelo Reconhecimento: A Democracia Participativa e a Cultura do Dom»-[BP3]


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