TAEDE'S THEORY OF IMITATION 181 



governing the evolution of individual life are also those which 

 govern the evolution of social life. One of the most remarkable 

 of these individualistic theories of social evolution is that of the 

 late M. Tarde.^ Tarde, as sociologists are aware, is the author 

 of the theory which sees in imitation the fundamental char- 

 acteristic of aU social Ufe. " It is incontestable," wrote Tarde, 

 '' that, once we enter upon Hfe in society, we are but imitating 

 others at every moment, in everything we do and in everything 

 we think, unless, indeed, we introduce some innovation, which 

 is seldom ; and even then it would be easy to prove that our 

 innovations are, for the most part, combinations of previous 

 patterns, and that they remain foreign to social life so long as 

 they are not imitated. You do not say a word which is not the 

 reproduction, unconscious now, but formerly conscious, of verbal 

 articulations which are traceable to the most remote past, and 

 which you reproduce with an accent proper to your surroundings ; 

 you do not perform a single rite of your rehgion, whether you 

 make the sign of the cross, or kiss an eikon, or repeat a prayer, 

 which does not reproduce traditional gestures and formulae — 

 which, in other words, has not been formed by imitation of your 

 ancestors ; you do not execute a single command, whether mih- 

 tary or civil, you do not perform a single act relating to your 

 profession which has not been taught you, and which you have 

 not copied from some living model ; you do not give a stroke 

 of the brush if you are a painter, you do not write a line if you are 

 a poet, without conforming to the style or to the prosody of your 

 school ; and yo\ur very originahty is made up of accumidated 

 commonplaces, and will become a commonplace in its turn." - 



This theory of Tarde's obviously implies that social evolution 

 is determined by the action of a few predominant personalities 

 whose influence is echoed through aU strata of society ; social 

 evolution is thus but the infinite series of repetitions of acts 



' Vide, notably, his work, Les Lois de rimitation. Paris, Alcem, 1896. 

 - G. Tarde, Lts Lois sociales, p. 36. Paris, -tth edition, 1905. 



