Among the thinkers who left a noticeable mark in the study of the development of society, a special place is occupied by the French scientist Gabriel Tarde, whose biography and research activities formed the basis of this article. Many of his ideas expressed at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, have not lost their relevance in our days.
From Jesuit School to Sorbonne
Jean Gabriel Tarde was born March 12, 1843 in the city of Sarlat, located in the south-west of France, near Bordeaux. Fate did everything to direct his future life in a legal path: the boy’s father served as a judge, and his mother came from a family of well-known lawyers who adorned with their own names the most high-profile processes of that time.
Young Gabriel began his education at a school belonging to the Roman Catholic Order of the Jesuits, which was consistent with the social status of his parents. After graduating from it in 1860 with a bachelor of arts degree, he intended to give preference to technical sciences in the future, but circumstances developed in such a way that jurisprudence became the subject of his study. Starting classes in his hometown, Gabriel Tarde completed them six years later within the walls of the famous Parisian Sorbonne.
Scientific research of a city judge
Returning home as a certified lawyer, the young man continued the family tradition. Starting in 1867 with the post of assistant judge and steadily advancing through the ranks, seven years later he became a permanent judge in his hometown of Sarlat, thus obtaining the position that his father had previously held. In this capacity, Tarde served for twenty years.
However, in his own interests, he was not limited to issues related to judicial practice. Back at the university, Gabriel Tarde was carried away by criminology and criminal anthropology - a science that studies the psychological, physiological and anthropological characteristics of repeat offenders.
Criminology classes that brought first glory
It should be noted that in the second half of the 19th century, criminology, designed to study the most diverse aspects of offenses, such as the conditions and reasons for their commission, ways and methods of prevention, but, most importantly, the identities of the criminals themselves, received particular development in France. It was there that the term “criminology” appeared, coined by anthropologist Paul Topinard.
Having studied these problems in depth, Tard began publishing the results of his research in scientific journals, and when the Archive of Criminal Anthropology was created in Sarl in 1887, he became its co-director. Later, the scientific works of Gabriel Tarde began to be published in separate publications, creating fame for him far beyond the borders of France.
Attempts to identify “natural born criminals”
Dwelling in more detail on his work in this institution, it should be noted that the Archive of Criminal Anthropology was created largely due to the popularity that the studies of the Italian forensic scientist Cesare Lombroso acquired at the end of the 19th century .
It is known that in his observations he was one of the first to use the method of anthropological measurement of the skulls of criminals, trying to prove that with the help of certain signs it is possible to indicate with a sufficient degree of probability the predisposition of a person to illegal actions. Simply put, he tried to identify the anatomical type of "natural born criminals."
For this purpose, a special archive was created in Sarl, which received materials from the whole country obtained as a result of a survey of persons who committed criminal offenses. Tard has been studying and systematizing them since 1887, without interrupting his main activity as a city judge.
Moving to Paris and subsequent scientific activities
In 1894, after the death of his mother, Tarde left his hometown and settled permanently in Paris. Leaving judicial practice in the past, he finally got the opportunity to devote himself entirely to science, while expanding the scope of his research, and in parallel with criminology, to engage in sociology. The reputation of a serious researcher, as well as fame in the scientific community, allowed Gabriel Tardu to occupy a high post in the Ministry of Justice, leading the criminal statistics section there.
Tarde Gabriel became famous in his time not only as a scientist, but also as a teacher who grew up a galaxy of French lawyers. He began his teaching career in 1896 at the Free School of Political Sciences, and then continued it, becoming a professor at the College de France Training and Research Center, where he worked until his death in 1904.
Controversy with Emil Durkheim
In writings on sociology, Gabriel Tarde relied mainly on statistics and used comparative analysis as the main research method. In them, he often polemicized with his contemporary, also recognized in scientific circles, by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim.
Unlike a colleague who claimed that it was society that shaped each individual person, Tarde, holding a different point of view, was inclined to believe that society itself is a product of the interaction of individual individuals. In other words, the debate between pundits was about what is primary and what is secondary - people who form a society, or a society, the product of which each person becomes.
The integrity of society as a result of mutual imitation
At the end of the 19th century, a unique monograph appeared, authored by Gabriel Tarde - The Laws of Imitation. Its essence boiled down to the fact that, according to the scientist, the social and communication activities of members of society are based mainly on imitation and copying by some people of the behavior of others. This process includes the systematic repetition of various social attitudes, manifestations of people's practical activities, as well as beliefs and beliefs. It is imitation that makes them reproduce from generation to generation. It also makes society a whole structure.
Gifted personalities are the engines of progress
The development of society, according to the theory of Tarde, occurs as a result of the fact that among its members periodically appear individual gifted individuals who are able, breaking out from the general process of imitation, to say a new word in any area of human activity. The fruit of their creativity can be both abstract ideas and specific material values.
The novelties they created - Tard calls them "inventions" - immediately attract imitators and eventually become a universally recognized norm. In this way, according to the scientist, all social institutions have developed - the bulk of people, unable to invent something, began to imitate innovators (inventors), and use what they created. It is also noted that far from all innovations are accepted by society to be emulated, but only those that fit into the culture that has prevailed and do not conflict with it.
Thus, the author of the theory claims that the social evolution of society is the result of the creative activity of its individual gifted members, and not a natural historical process, as Emil Durkheim objected to it.
Criticism of the theory of collective consciousness
Nowadays, the book that Gabriel Tarde wrote in his last years, Opinion and Crowd, is popular all over the world. In it, he expresses his critical attitude towards the concept of collective consciousness that existed in his years and has survived to the present day, supposedly existing in isolation from individual minds, and which is something independent. Developing previously expressed ideas, the author points to the primary role of consciousness of each individual individual and, as a result, his responsibility for actions committed by the crowd.
It should also be remembered another topic that Tard Gabriel devoted his work to - the "phenomenon of the crowd." In this matter, he argues with the French psychologist Gustave Lebon, who claimed that the XIX century is the "century of the crowd." Objecting to him, Tarde argued that you should not mix two completely different concepts - the crowd and the public.
If a close physical contact between the people who make it up is necessary for the formation of the crowd, then a community of opinions and intellect forms the audience. In this case, it can be composed of people who are geographically located at a considerable distance from each other. Its approval has become especially relevant today, when the media are able to artificially create a community of the public, directing their opinion in the direction they need.
Other sections of science that interested Tarda
Other areas of science that Gabriel Tarde was involved in are also known - sociology was not the only field of his activity. In addition to the criminology mentioned above, the scientist paid much attention to such sections of social studies as political science, economics, and art. The latter should not be surprising, because he once graduated from a Jesuit school with a bachelor of arts. In all these fields of knowledge, Gabriel Tarde enriched science with the works that remained after him.
The ideas of the French scientist found a wide response in Russia. Many of his works were translated into Russian and became public before the revolution. For example, in 1892, a book (Gabriel Tarde, "The Laws of Imitation"), outlined above, was published in St. Petersburg. In addition, he saw the light of his own monograph Crimes of the Crowd, The Essence of Art, and a number of others.
Thard's ideas in the light of our days
The polemic that unfolded in the 19th century between Tard and Durkheim about what is primary: the individual or society, has found its continuation in our days. Modernity has given a new impetus to disputes between supporters of the interpretation of society as an independent organism and their opponents, who regard it as a set of independent individuals.
Despite the difference in assessments of his scientific heritage, modern scholars pay the debt to the merits of Tarde as the founder of a number of popular sections of sociology today. Among them, the most important are the analysis of public opinion and the theory of mass culture. However, it should be noted that in the 20th century, Durkheim’s theory that society influences the formation of an individual, and not vice versa, became predominant. In this regard, Tarde somewhat lost its popularity.