L’immagine dell’uomo in Durkheim e Mauss: perché ci riguarda

In this paper we intend to analyse the topic of the image of man in the sociology of Durkheim and Mauss. The idea is that this topic is crucial to under stand some aspects of the contemporary world and the fundamental question is intentionally ironic: who came first the man or the social? The path that we will follow is divided into three stages: first, we will analyse the position of the problem and why the question on the social appears with modernity; second, we will approach the thought of Durkheim and the key issue of the collective representations (in connection with the device of the unconscious and history); finally, we will examine the question of man in three dimensions and anthropological synthesis in Mauss. The brief conclusions explain why this path concerns everyone.