Gift giving as cultural action

This habilition-project is divided into three areas:

• The phenomenological-hermeneutical analysis of the cultural practices of gift giving.

• The theoretical discussion of anthropological and sociological approaches, which may contribute to a sociology of giving and lead to the development of a theoretical concept of exchange which brings new criteria into the view of the topic and tries to integrate the separate connecting factors

• The exemplary investigation of christmas gift giving practices.

Interdisciplinary theoretical analysis (cultural anthropology, cultural and economic sociology)