Positive Fiktionen des Negativen. Die empirischen Wissenschaften und die Menschenmenge

Gamper, Michael

doi:10.30965/9783846744369_007

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“…McClelland, 1989), emphasis on the late nineteenth century as the golden age of theories of imitation and crowds as expounded in the works of Gabriel Tarde, Scipio Sighele, and Gustave Le Bon has somewhat induced sociologists to lose sight of earlier proponents of analogous views. Indeed, far from being relatively recent or marginal issues, imitation, influence and crowds have presided over the growth of the social sciences since at least the late seventeenth century, paving the way for the outburst of comments on the centrality of mobs in the French Revolution a century later (Gamper, 2007). Imitation was detected not only among individuals but also at the level of entire nations: this perception, already present in Hobbes, would become more prominent in Hume (1998) and Bagehot (1873).…”

Section: A Discontinuous Yet Lively Tradition Of Thoughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tarde’s ancestors. Imitation and crowds from Hobbes to Locke

Turina

2023

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Sociological studies on imitation and crowds usually point to the late nineteenth-century French jurist and sociologist Gabriel Tarde as their forerunner. This article argues that a lively debate on those issues already existed in Europe in the late seventeenth century. A review of works by Hobbes, Spinoza, Malebranche and Locke will show how they commented upon the dangerous influence of charismatic leaders over excitable mobs or the ordinary occurrence of someone’s opinions or manners being subsequently imitated by others until they become a new fashion. These four authors developed distinct approaches to the study of imitation and crowds. I call them the ‘authoritarian’ (Hobbes), the ‘rationalist’ (Malebranche), the ‘affective’ (Spinoza) and the ‘liberal’ (Locke) frames. The authoritarian and the rationalist approaches easily lead to dismissive or hostile views, while the affective and the liberal ones may open the way to more sympathetic (or at least practical) assessments. This study aims to show that: a) early modern discussions on imitation and crowds made a significant contribution to the formation of the field of social sciences; and b) these classical authors may still prove valuable for understanding imitation and crowds in the twenty-first century, in regard to the digital environment as well.

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Section: A Discontinuous Yet Lively Tradition Of Thoughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tarde’s ancestors. Imitation and crowds from Hobbes to Locke

Turina

2023

Social Science Information

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Positive Fiktionen des Negativen. Die empirischen Wissenschaften und die Menschenmenge

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Tarde’s ancestors. Imitation and crowds from Hobbes to Locke

Tarde’s ancestors. Imitation and crowds from Hobbes to Locke

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