FORMULAE OF SOCIAL PROGRESS 185 
GABRIEL TARDE (1843-1904) 
Imitation 
The function of imitation in social progress, brought out forcibly 
by Adam Smith and developed by Walter Bagehot, has been 
emphasized as the one all-comprehensive factor by Tarde and 
been given almost equal prominence by Baldwin and Giddings. 
As jurist Tarde observed how large a part imitation played in 
crime; as statistician he dealt with recurrences, repetitions; as 
psychologist he was particularly interested in the analysis of 
motives, and the experience and study of years finally crystal- 
lized into a cosmic philosophy which sought to explain evolution 
by the three related laws of repetition, opposition and adaptation, 
—the three subsumed under the one comprehensive law of 
imitation! ‘ Repetition, opposition and adaptation,” he says, 
“ are the three keys which science employs to open up the arcana 
of the universe,” — and these, though distinct, are closely con- 
nected. “In biology, for example, the tendency of species to 
multiply in geometric progression (a law of repetition) forms the 
basis of the struggle for existence and natural selection (a law of 
opposition); and the appearance of individual variations, the 
production of various individual aptitudes and harmonies, and the 
correlation of parts in growth (laws of adaptation) are necessary 
to the functioning of both.” ? 
Tarde criticizes those sociologists such as Durkheim and Le Bon 
who deal with impersonal forces and spontaneous crowd impulses 
which coerce the individual, also those who emphasize the group 
as the unit. Mass movements according to our author, have their 
ultimate explanation in the inter-cerebral relations of two minds, 
the one reflecting the other. ‘“‘ It is here,”’ he says, “ that he [the 
sociologist] must seek the key to the social mystery; it is from this 
that he must endeavor to derive the few simple but universal laws 
which may be distinguished amid the seeming chaos of historical 
and human life.” From this point of view he refuses to accept 
such concepts as “ social organism,” “ soul of a people,” “‘ genius 
1 Tarde, The Laws of Imitation (Trans. by Parsons), Introduction. 
2 Tarde, Social Laws (Trans. by Warren), p. 7. 3 Ibid., pp. 46, 47, 165. 
