182 HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



which, originally, were coniined to a restricted number of indi- 

 viduals, or even to a single individual ; and which, in the course 

 of time, through the mechanism of imitation, have become 

 vulgarised. Now, it is incontestable that imitation does play 

 an important role in social life ; but it may be questioned whether 

 the theory of Tarde can justly be termed a sociological theory. 

 It may be more aptly described as a theory of social fsychology ; 

 and the ultimate explanation of the facts of social evolution, 

 according to this theory, is to be found in the individual tendency 

 to imitation. In other words, the social psychology of Tarde 

 is but a formula of individual psychology prolonged and ex- 

 tended in space and time. The individual, in terms of social 

 psychology — according to Tarde, at least — is the sole determining 

 force in social evolution ; the existence of sociological laws 

 sui generis capable of reacting on the individual and determining 

 movements which otherwise would not have been produced is 

 excluded. On the other hand, Durkheim has perhaps gone 

 too far in the opposite direction. For just as Tarde seems to 

 have failed to see that, when a nimiber of individuals live 

 together in society, a state of affairs is created which an indi- 

 vidual alone could not have created, and which originates a 

 new force, having its own laws, distinct from those of individual 

 psychology ; so Durkheim seems to attach too little importance 

 to the role of the individual in sociology. That a vast society, 

 compounded and recompounded, cannot be explained by the 

 laws of individual psychology is obvious ; but the individual 

 does, nevertheless, play a role in sociology which cannot be denied. 

 The circumstances of the actual phase of social evolution may 

 aid the individual initiative, and the individual may but be 

 taking advantage of circumstances which have been created quite 

 independently of any individual will ; but, none the less, had 

 not a powerful personality arisen at the psychological moment, 

 these circumstances would not have been utilised, and the future 

 phases of the evolution of a nation might have been quite 



