THE AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
VOLUME VI
MAY, i go i NUMBER
THE THEORY OF IMITATION IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. 1
MOST prominent among the results of the attempt to apply psychology in the interpretation of social phenomena is the theory of imitation, formulated first by M. Gabriel Tarde 2 in France and later, but independently, by Professor J. Mark Bald- win 3 in this country. Among all the theories of the nature and process of human society this "imitation theory" is today most widely accepted and most in the public eye. It enjoys such enviable popularity, indeed, that it is expounded, not only by professors of sociology and psychology in our colleges and uni- versities, but by many of the teachers of psychology and peda- gogy in our secondary schools. Such a theory, which has gained so wide an acceptance in a brief time, deserves the care- ful examination and candid criticism of every social thinker ; and such this paper will endeavor to give it.
Professor Baldwin's statement of the theory diverges slightly, though immaterially, from M. Tarde's statement. For this rea- son, as well as on account of its priority in time, M. Tarde's formulation of the theory may be advantageously given first.
1 Read at the meeting of the Western Philosophical Association, Lincoln, Neb., January 2, 1901.
- Lfs Lois de T Imitation, 1890; La Logique sociale, 1895; Les Lois sociales, 1898.
8 Mental Development in the Child and the Race, 189$; Social and Ethical Inter- pretations in Mental Development, 1897.
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