Gabriel Tarde (; in full Jean-Gabriel De Tarde; 12 March 1843 – 13 May 1904) was a French
sociologist,
criminologist
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and ...
and
social psychologist who conceived sociology as based on small
psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries bet ...
interactions among individuals (much as if it were
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...
), the fundamental forces being
imitation
Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. I ...
and
innovation
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed enti ...
.
Life
Tarde was born and raised in
Sarlat in the province of
Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named ...
. He studied law at
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
. From 1869 to 1894 he worked as a magistrate and investigating judge in the province. In the 1880s he corresponded with representatives of the newly formed criminal anthropology, most notably the Italians
Enrico Ferri and
Cesare Lombroso
Cesare Lombroso (, also ; ; born Ezechia Marco Lombroso; 6 November 1835 – 19 October 1909) was an Italian criminologist, phrenologist, physician, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the establi ...
and the French psychiatrist
Alexandre Lacassagne
Alexandre Lacassagne (August 17, 1843 – September 24, 1924) was a French physician and criminologist who was a native of Cahors. He was the founder of the Lacassagne school of criminology, based in Lyon and influential from 1885 to 1914, and the ...
. With the latter, Tarde came to be the leading representative for a "French school" in criminology. In 1900 he was appointed professor in modern philosophy at the
Collège de France. As such he was the most prominent contemporary critic of Durkheim's sociology.
Work
Among the concepts that Tarde initiated were the
group mind (taken up and developed by
Gustave Le Bon, and sometimes advanced to explain so-called
herd behaviour or
crowd psychology), and
economic psychology, where he anticipated a number of modern developments. Tarde was very critical of
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
's work at the level of both methodology and theory. Consider, for example, the
Tarde—Durkheim debate in 1903. However, Tarde's insights were ridiculed as "metaphysics" and hastily dismissed by Durkeim and his followers who went on to largely establish the "science" of sociology, and it was not until U.S. scholars, such as the
Chicago school, took up his theories that they became famous.
Criminology
Tarde took an interest in criminology and the psychological basis of criminal behavior while working as a
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
in public service. He was critical of the concept of the
atavistic criminal as developed by
Cesare Lombroso
Cesare Lombroso (, also ; ; born Ezechia Marco Lombroso; 6 November 1835 – 19 October 1909) was an Italian criminologist, phrenologist, physician, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the establi ...
. Tarde's criminological studies served as the
underpinning of his later sociology.
Tarde also emphasized the tendency of the criminal to return to the scene of the crime and to repeat it, which he saw as part of a wider process of
repetition compulsion
Repetition compulsion is the unconscious tendency of a person to repeat a traumatic event or its circumstances. This may take the form of symbolically or literally re-enacting the event, or putting oneself in situations where the event is likely ...
.
Imitation
Tarde considered imitation, conscious and unconscious, as a fundamental interpersonal trait, with the imitation of fathers by sons as the primal situation, resting on prestige.
Tarde highlighted the importance of the creative exemplar in society, arguing that "genius is the capacity to engender one's own progeny".
Science fiction
Tarde also wrote a
science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novel entitled ''Underground Man'' (''Fragment d'histoire future'', 1896). The plot is a
post-apocalyptic story of an Earth destroyed by a new Ice Age. Humanity must rebuild a new civilization underground. The choice is made to lay the foundation of their utopia on music and art.
Influence
* Tarde is mentioned as a prominent influence in
Scipio Sighele
Scipio may refer to:
People Ancient Rome
* Scipio Aemilianus, Roman general who destroyed Carthage in 146 BC
* Scipio Africanus, Roman general who defeated the Carthaginian leader Hannibal in 202 BC
* Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, brother ...
's pioneering book ''
La Folla delinquente'' on mass psychology.
*
Gustave le Bon's book
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind also refers to Tarde as a source.
*
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson Le Roy, ...
*
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
built on Tarde's ideas of imitation and suggestion for his work on the theory of the crowd, published as
Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic id ...
.
*
Everett Rogers furthered Tarde's "laws of imitation" in the 1962 book ''
Diffusion of innovations''.
* From the late 1990s and continuing today, Tarde's work has been experiencing a renaissance. Spurred by the re-release of his essay ''Monadologie et Sociologie'' by
Institut Synthelabo under the guidance of
Gilles Deleuze's student , Tarde's work is being re-discovered as a harbinger of postmodern French theory, particularly as influenced by the social philosophers Gilles Deleuze and
Félix Guattari.
* It has been argued that Tarde should be recognized as a founding figure of
political anthropology
Political anthropology is the comparative study of politics in a broad range of historical, social, and cultural settings.
History of political anthropology Origins
Political anthropology has its roots in the 19th century. At that time, thinkers ...
, in an article authored by
Arpad Szakolczai and
Bjorn Thomassen in 2011.
For example, in ''Difference and Repetition'', Deleuze's milestone book which affected his transition to a more socially-aware brand of philosophy and his writing partnership with Guattari, Deleuze in fact re-centered his philosophical orientation around Tarde's thesis that repetition serves difference rather than vice versa. Also on the heels of the re-release of Tarde's works has come an important development in which French sociologist
Bruno Latour has referred to Tarde as a possible predecessor to
Actor-Network Theory in part because of Tarde's criticisms of Durkheim's conceptions of the Social.
A book, ''The Social after Gabriel Tarde: Debates and Assessments'', edited by Matei Candea, was published by Routledge in 2010. It provides a set of mature critiques of the recent renaissance of Tarde as well as suggesting models for scholars to use Tarde's thought in their scholarship. This book includes contributions that philosophically reflect the
Latour
Latour may refer to:
People
* LaTour, American musician
Surname
* House of Baillet
** Alfred de Baillet Latour (1901–1980),
**Henri de Baillet-Latour (1876–1942), Belgian aristocrat and the third president of the International Olympic Commi ...
ian (including a contribution from Latour himself) as well as Deleuzian approaches to Tarde, and also highlight a number of new ways Tarde is being adapted in terms of methods in contemporary sociology, particularly in the area of
ethnography
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...
, and the study of online communities. Additionally, in 2010,
Bruno Latour and
Vincent Antonin Lepinay released a short book called ''The Science of Passionate Interests: An Introduction to Gabriel Tarde's Economic Anthropology'', in which they show how Tarde's work offers a strong critique of the foundations of the economics discipline and economic methodology.
Tarde's work has further influenced
affect philosophy. For example, in 2012
Tony D Sampson's book ''Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks'' used a Tarde inspired imitation thesis to describe the tendency for emotions, feelings and affects to spread "accidentally" on digital networks.
Works
*''
La criminalité comparée'' (1886)
*''La philosophie pénale'' (1890) - Translated by Rapelje Howell and published as ''Penal Philosophy'' in 1968
*''Les lois de l'imitation'' (1890)- Translated by
Elsie Clews Parsons
Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons (November 27, 1875 – December 19, 1941) was an American anthropologist, sociologist, folklorist, and feminist who studied Native American tribes—such as the Tewa and Hopi—in Arizona, New Mexico, and M ...
in 1903 and published as
The Laws of Imitation'
*''Les transformations du droit. Étude sociologique'' (1891)
*''Monadologie et sociologie'' (1893)
*''La logique sociale'' (1895)
*''Fragment d'histoire future'' (1896)
*''L’opposition universelle. Essai d'une théorie des contraires'' (1897)
*''Écrits de psychologie sociale'' (1898)
*''Les lois sociales. Esquisse d'une sociologie'' (1898) – Translated to English by
Howard C Warren
Howard Crosby Warren (1867 – 1934) was an American psychologist and the first chairman of the Princeton University Psychology department. He was also president of the American Psychological Association in 1913.
The Society of Experimental Psy ...
and published in 1899 as ''Social Laws - an Outline of Sociology''
*''L'opinion et la foule'' (1901)
*''La psychologie économique'' (1902–3)
*''Fragment d'histoire future'' (1904) – Translated by
Cloudesley Brereton and published as ''Underground Man'' in 1905
See also
Notes
References
*.
* Bruno Latour (2005). ''Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
* See also: Pietro Semeraro, ''Il sistema penale di Gabriel Tarde'', Padova 1984.
Further reading
* Pietro Semeraro, ''Il sistema penale di Gabriel Tarde'', Cedam, Padova 1984.
* Realino Marra, ''Tra pena infamante e utilità del reato. Tarde contro Durkheim, ovvero l'espiazione della colpa a fondamento del diritto criminale'', in «Dei Delitti e delle Pene», III-1, 1985, pp. 49–92.
* Massimo Borlandi, '' Tarde et les criminologues italiens de son temps'', in ''Gabriel Tarde et la criminologie au tournant du siècle'', Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, Villeneuve d'Ascq, 2000.
* Matei Candea, ''The social after Gabriel Tarde : debates and assessments'', Routledge, New York, 2010.
* J. S. McClelland, ''The Crowd and the Mob'' (2010).
* Robert Leroux, ''Gabriel Tarde, vie, oeuvres, concepts'', Paris, Ellipses, 2011.
*
Jaap van Ginneken, 'The era of the public – Tarde, social psychology, and interaction', Ch. 5 in JvG, ''Crowds, psychology and politics 1871-1899'', New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
*Tony D Sampson, ''Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks'', University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2012.
*Tony D Sampson: ''The Assemblage Brain: Sense-Making in Neuroculture'', University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2016.
External links
*
*
*
Open Access translation of ''Monadology and Sociology''Bibliography of his works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarde, Gabriel
1843 births
1904 deaths
People from Sarlat-la-Canéda
French psychologists
French sociologists
Social psychologists
Propaganda theorists
Crowd psychologists
Collège de France faculty
French male non-fiction writers