Techniques, technology and civilisation

"In a substantial introduction, Nathan Schlanger discusses the concepts of techniques and technology, Émile Durkheim's positions on techniques, the originality of Mauss's contribution, the relationship between homo faber and total man, technology and ethnography, the concepts of civilisation and nation, the notion of indigenous and working-class labour. The second part brings together 14 texts - ten by Mauss, one by Émile Durkheim, one by Henri Hubert and one by Durkheim and Mauss - which together constitute a real corpus. They include classic texts such as Essay on Eskimo Variations (1906), Civilisations, Elements and Forms (1930), Techniques of the Body (1935), Techniques and Technology (1948), as well as shorter writings, speeches, commentaries, transcripts of lectures, etc. Each text is preceded by an introductory caption. At the end of the volume, there are brief biographical notes on some 30 authors mentioned by Mauss as sources or protagonists of his technological thought."