Echange, don, réciprocité: l'acte de "donner" chez Simmel et Durkheim

The specific object of this paper is an important topic for the comparison between two masters of sociological thought, Georg Simmel and Émile Durheim: the question of giving in the contest of social exchange. Durkheim deals with this issue introducing the concept of organic solidarity, which derives from the division of social work and thus implies the interdependence between individuals. This representation of solidarity ha to do with the topic of credit and debt relations, introduced by Simmel in his philosophy of money. In this perspective, reciprocity is conceived as one of the main sociological functions involved in the representation of social bonds. After a comparison between the theory of reciprocity given by Durkheim and Simmel, this essay makes a specific reference on mortgage. This document is conceived as a paradigm of the shape assumed by the immaterial reality of reciprocity in institutional and everyday life.