This chapter revisits Luc Boltanski's writings in terms of their implications for sociological research on the gift. More specifically, I wish to argue that the potential relevance of Boltanski's ‘pragmatic sociology’ – or, as it is also called, ‘sociology of critical capacities’ – has remained largely untapped in that regard.

The first section elucidates Boltanski's understanding of the gift on the basis of his writings on this topic. Concentrated in Love and Justice as Competences (Boltanski, 2012 [1990]), these rather brief statements mainly discuss the gift from the point of view of his conceptions of ‘competences’ and ‘regimes of social action’, as well as in relation to notions such as philia and agapè. Yet, neither philia nor agapè appear fully to account for the intrinsic paradoxes and tensions which Boltanski himself strongly reasserts as irreducible and crucial components of any adequate interpretation of the gift. The second section suggests that we may reach for a richer and more complex approach to the gift by drawing on Boltanski's ideas on ‘economies of worth’ and ‘regimes of worth and justification’, as chiefly elaborated in his collaborative publications with Laurent Thévenot (Boltanski and Thévenot, 2006 [1991], 1999). In such perspective, I submit, the gift – and, more precisely, valorized dimensions and configurations of giving – may be viewed not only as a major source of criticism and justification, but also, and no less significantly, as itself disputed and in need of justification.

Between Philia and Agapè: The Gift in Love and Justice as Competences

To begin with, it is worth noting that we know little about Boltanski's understanding of the gift, as the topic did not draw much attention on his part and remains marginal to his oeuvre as a whole. True enough, we find significant pages devoted to the gift in L'amour et la justice comme compétences (1990), which has appeared in English translation only very recently (Boltanski, 2012 [1990]: 138–144).