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propositions, Tarde seized on one lines of causation which is unquestionably valid in some instances.
But in his associated discussion, he characteristically devoted far too much space to supporting
examples and not enough to establishing the limiting conditions under which the propositions were in
fact valid.
The second basic extra-logical law is that imitation is channeled by status: it descends from social
superior to social inferior. An elite functions not merely to ferment invention; it also provides the
guiding model for the rest of society and thereby diffuses new discoveries. It is not always easy to
separate invention from the first stages of imitation, particularly in the case of less logical or
scientific inventions, such as life style. But there is often a significant overlap: as soon as a particular
elite ceases to supply leadership in invention and merely preserves established custom, its decline is
imminent. 47 A reasonably unified elite serves as the basic source of imitation for a society and also
ensures a fundamental unity of belief throughout the society. The role played by the Roman Catholic
Church in rationalizing and diffusing belief in the Middle Ages is the outstanding example cited by
Tarde.
In democratic periods, the functions performed earlier by nobilities tend to be taken over by capital
cities. This transformation was particularly striking in France, where so much of the intellectual,
economic, and political life of the country was (and is) centered in Paris. Capital cities provide
leadership because in them are found those members of society who are most qualified to generate
and diffuse inventions: disproportionately large numbers of males, adults, and the “most active
brains” of a society.
Tarde held, somewhat tautologically, that the more hierarchical a society, the greater the social
distance traveled by an imitation. Social distance, in turn, may be measured operationally by the
number of social strata an imitation must cross before reaching a society’s lowest sectors. Introducing
the principle that people imitate the socially “closest” models, Tarde could then define a society as
democratic when its lowest members could directly imitate the highest stratum without waiting for
intermediary strata to transmit imitations.
This view of democracy was at odds with the conception of writers like de Tocqueville, who
preferred to view democracies as societies where nobilities and cities of more stratified periods are
replaced by the majority of the population. As each man grows less sure of his own superiority, he
will be increasingly influenced by the force of numbers in arriving at a decision. “Eighty thousand
Frenchmen can’t be wrong,” was the logical conclusion to be drawn from such reasoning. But Tarde,
reflecting his own aristocratic background and his emphasis on the utility of the concept of imitation,
stressed that any belief held by such a large number of individuals as the majority in any society must
be the inevitable product of massive imitation. Even the cherished democratic concept of equality, as
Tarde delighted to recall, was of aristocratic origin: it developed with the continual interaction
among members of the royal court despite opposition there by some who vehemently repulsed the
pretensions of the lower nobility. 48
Thus it was virtually impossible for Tarde to conceive of a nonstratified society. Even while
recognizing that social superiors might imitate social inferiors, he maintained that this was the
exception; the law of imitation from superior to inferior generally held. Nevertheless, this law did not
contradict another holding that logically superior inventions replaced inferior ones, regardless of the
social origins of the inventor. Tarde’s reconciliation of these two laws took the form of a principle
that has since had wide currency: when introduced by social inferiors, the best new ideas may not be
imitated immediately, but if the leading strata merit their position, they will soon espouse them.
Whereupon, having been legitimated by the elite, the new ideas will be imitated throughout the