Abstract
The word "gift" has an ambivalent reception in the social sciences in Brazil, because through a superficial reading it suggests a gratuitous and religious understanding of the donation. But the gift comprises a relational theoretical system, which reveals the complexity of social relationships in the past and the present. This recognition led Alain Caillé to propose the gift as a third paradigm, which would be more complex than those marked by the traditions of individualism and holism. The analysis of the contributions of this author is fundamental to understand the contemporary trends of the debate that is crucial in the development of the French school of sociology founded by Émile Durkheim.
Keywords:
Gift; Social theory; Alain Caillé.