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III. The Structure of Tarde’s Thought: Invention, Imitation, and Opposition
Turning to a more careful examination of Tarde’s basic theoretical principles, we must stress at outset
an underlying similarity with the work of Durkheim as well as with several other writers who
converged near the end of the nineteenth century on what Parsons has termed the voluntaristic theory
of action. 23 The convergence was in the direction of a social theory which included as central
elements, and as analytically independent variables, all five of the following: an actor, directed
toward specific goals, restricted by certain fixed conditions in his environment but free to utilize
other means toward the attainment of his goals, acting in a social framework defined by
institutionalized norms. 24
France, we might note in passing, was particularly well placed for fostering a synthesis of the
various traditions of thought that converged in the voluntaristic theory of action, which in turn, laid the
essential base for much of contemporary sociological theory. In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
social thought, the most extreme positions—those which were forced to make the most radical
modifications in order to achieve the voluntaristic synthesis—were found in traditions established
most firmly not in France, but in England and Germany. The very strong tradition of British
utilitarianism, 25 in laying undue emphasis on the actor’s conditions and means, correspondingly
neglected the goals toward which actors were directed, and the norms which structured their
behavior. In Germany, on the other hand, it was the idealistic tradition that dominated much of social
thought—the tradition which erred significantly in the opposite direction from that of utilitarianism by
focusing predominantly on the norms and goals of actors while neglecting their means and conditions.
When deviations from these “national” traditions did take place in England or Germany, they often
consisted more of importations from the opposing tradition than of genuinely creative ideas. French
social thought, while it may have moved toward excessive rationality in the work of the positivists,
remained markedly eclectic by contrast with England or Germany throughout most of the nineteenth
century. 26 General philosophical circles were open to the extent that it was considered necessary to
be familiar with both utilitarian and idealistic traditions. As a consequnce, throughout the last part of
the nineteenth century, numerous attempts could be found in France to merge together these disparate
elements into a coherent system of thought. Tarde and Durkheim were placed in an advantaged
position in this respect; because they could build on earlier efforts their own tasks of integration were
correspondingly facilitated. Despite their roots in the conflicting French traditions of Spontaneity and
Cartesianism, they each were successful in working the five basic analytical elements into their
conceptual frameworks.
In dealing with social actors, Tarde was more careful than Durkheim in attending to such factors as
individual differences and their consequences for social behavior. In his discussion of invention, the
general goals toward which inventors strive—wealth, religious ideals, adventure—are considered in
the ways they direct activity toward various types of discoveries. 27 A careful examination of the
relations between conditions restricting social action, such as the technology of transportation and
communication, and the means available to achieve particular goals, especially the mass media, is
found in Tarde’s work on public opinion and mass communication. 28 If Tarde underemphasized any
one of the five basic elements, it was probably that of norms. As we pointed out, reacting to
Durkheim’s emphasis on the external, constraining aspects of social norms, Tarde stressed the
possibility of their spontaneous internalization; but this of course was not to denigate their
importance. Then, in his discussion of the susceptibility of various social groups to imitation, Tarde
pointed to the importance of an alternation between more traditional or more innovative norms. 29 At