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Jean Gabriel Tarde(fr. Gabriel Tarde; March 12, 1843, Sarlat, France - May 13, 1904, Paris, France) - French sociologist and criminologist, one of the founders of the subjective psychological trend in Western sociology.

Biography

Born in the small town of Sarlat in the south of France (near Bordeaux) into a family of lawyers: his mother belonged to a family of lawyers, and his father worked as a judge in the boy’s hometown. Tarde acquired his initial education at a local Jesuit school, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation in 1860. In the future, he planned to continue his education on the path of polytechnic sciences, but due to health problems he was forced to stop studying law in his native Sarlat. Having begun to study law in his provincial town, he completed his legal education in Paris in 1866.

After receiving higher education, he returned to Sarlat and continued the family professional tradition. In 1867, he took the position of assistant judge in his hometown, just two years later he became a temporary judge in Sarlat, and from 1875 to 1894 he was a permanent judge.

In addition to judicial practice, he also managed to engage in science. From 1880, his work was regularly published in the Philosophical Review. Since 1887, in parallel with his position as a judge, he worked as co-director of the Archives of Criminal Anthropology. Tarde's first works were devoted to criminology. A prominent place among them is occupied by the monographs “Comparative Crime” (1886) and “Philosophy of Punishment” (1890). These works created the author's reputation as a serious researcher, known far beyond the borders of his hometown.

In addition to criminology, Tarde began to study sociology. Tarde developed his original sociological theory back in the 1870s, but did not publish it for a long time.

However, only after the death of his mother in 1894, G. Tarde was able to completely devote himself to science. He left provincial Sarlat and went to Paris to become director of the crime statistics section of the French Ministry of Justice.

In 1896, his teaching activity began, which developed dynamically. G. Tarde worked in two places at once - at the Free School of Political Science and at the Free College of Social Sciences. In 1900, after his first unsuccessful attempt, he took up the post of professor and became head of the department of modern philosophy at the College de France. That same year he was elected a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.

In 1898, his main book, “Social Laws,” was published.

Teaching was his main occupation until his death. He died on May 12, 1904 in Paris.

Scientific views

Theory of the functioning of society

In sociology, Tarde, like his contemporary Emile Durkheim, based his theories on statistical data, was interested in the nature of social norms, and paid great attention to comparison as a method of scientific research. However, in contrast to Durkheim's theories, where the central role was always given to society, which shapes man, Tarde concentrated his attention on the study of the interaction of people (individual consciousnesses), of which society is the product. Having placed the main emphasis on the study of individuals, he actively advocated the creation of social psychology as a science, which should become the foundation of sociology.

According to Tarde, the basis for the development of society is the social and communication activity of individuals in the form of imitation (imitation) - “society, after all, is imitation” ( “la société, c’est l’imitation”). The process of imitation is understood as the elementary copying and repetition by some people of the behavior of others. The processes of copying and repetition concern existing practices, beliefs, attitudes, etc., which are reproduced from generation to generation through imitation. This process helps maintain the integrity of society.

Another important concept in explaining the development of society, according to Tarde, is “invention” (or “innovation”). It is considered by Tarde as a process of adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Everything new that arises in society (be it ideas or material values) is the result of the creative activity of a few gifted individuals. Once a new phenomenon has arisen, it sets in motion the process of imitation. The establishment of all major social institutions occurred, according to Tarde, precisely because ordinary people, unable to invent something new, began to imitate innovative creators and use their inventions.

Thus, the activities of a few innovators and the innovations they invented are, according to G. Tarde, the main engine of social evolution, contributing to the development of society. It should be taken into account that the most widespread are not just any “inventions”, but those that generally fit into an already existing culture and do not strongly contradict its fundamentals.

The struggle of different “inventions” with each other, which solve the problems that have arisen in society in different ways, leads to the emergence of opposition (counteraction to innovation). Its result is various kinds of disputes, conflicts and confrontations (even military actions). However, any opposition is usually replaced by adaptation, the assimilation of the “invention”. This completes the cycle of social processes, and society does not change until some innovator makes a new “invention.”

Study of the Crowd Phenomenon

A particular theme of Tarde's research was the comparative study of crowds and publics. Polemicizing with G. Le Bon, Tarde opposed the description of contemporary reality as the “age of the crowd.” From his point of view, the 19th century is rather the century of the public. Contrasting these two concepts, Tarde emphasized the need for close physical contact between people in the case of a crowd, and the sufficiency of mental connections for the emergence of a public. Such spiritual unity was understood by scientists as a community of opinions, an intellectual community. A huge role in the formation of a “public society” is played by the media, which form a community of opinions among people, regardless of their location.

Other scientific interests

G. Tarde’s sphere of attention included not only the general sociological theory of social development, but also some special sections of social science - such as political science (the work “Transformation of Power”), economics (“Economic Psychology”, “Reform of Political Economy”), criminology (“ Comparative Crime" and "Philosophy of Punishment"), art criticism ("The Essence of Art").

Development of G. Tarde's ideas

In Russia at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. Tarde's ideas were very popular. Many of his books were translated into Russian immediately after their publication in France. His views had a strong influence on the concepts of the Russian “subjective school” (P. L. Lavrov, N. K. Mikhailovsky, S. N. Yuzhakov, N. I. Kareev).

The contrast between the approaches of Durkheim and Tarde to solving the problem of what comes first - society or the individual - marked the beginning of modern controversy between supporters of the interpretation of society as a single organism and their opponents, who consider society to be the sum of independent individuals.

Modern scholars recognize the importance of Tarde's contribution to the development of sociological science. German sociologist Jurgen Habermas believes that it was Tarde who became the founder of such popular areas of sociology today as the theory of mass culture and the analysis of public opinion. Since, however, in sociology of the 20th century. If the idea of ​​the determining influence of society on the individual dominates, and not vice versa (as with Tarde), then today Tarde is less popular than his opponent Durkheim.

Essays

• "Les lois de l'imitation" (1890, "The Laws of Imitation")
• "Essais et mélanges sociologiques"(1895, collection of articles)
• "La foule criminelle" (1892, "The Criminal Crowd")
• "Les transformations du droit" (1893)
• "Logique sociale" (1895, "Social Logic")
• "L'opposition universelle" (1897)
• "Études de psychologie sociale" (1898)
• "Les lois sociales" (1898)
• "Les transformations du pouvoir" (1899)
• L'opinion et la foule /G. Tarde. - Paris: Felix Alcan, editeur, 1901. - 226, p.

Editions in Russian

• Laws of imitation = (Les lois de l’imitation): Trans. from fr. / J. Tarda. - St. Petersburg: F. Pavlenkov, 1892. - , IV, 370 p.
• Crimes of the crowd / G. Tarde; Per. Dr. I. F. Iordansky, ed. prof. A. I. Smirnova. - Kazan: N. Ya. Bashmakov, 1893. - 44 p.
• The essence of art = (L’art et la logique) / Transl. from fr. edited by and with a preface. L. E. Obolensky; G. Tarde. - St. Petersburg: V.I. Gubinsky, 1895. - 112 p.
  • ... -: LKI, 2007. - 120 p. ISBN 978-5-382-00106-7
• Origin of family and property: (Translated from French): From approx. essay by L. E. Obolensky: On the origin of family and property according to the theory of evolutionists and economic materialists. - St. Petersburg: V.I. Gubinsky, 1897. - 147 p.
  • ... -: LKI, 2007. - 152 p. ISBN 978-5-382-00048-0
• Young criminals:: Per. from fr. / G. Tarda, member. Intern. Institute of Sociology. - SPb.: type. A. A. Porokhovshchikova, 1899. - 30 p.
• Public and Crowd: Study by Gabriel Tarde / Trans. F. Laterner. - St. Petersburg: B-ka former. Ivanova, 1899. - 48 p.
• Reform of political economy: / G. Tarda; Per. from fr. edited by L. E. Obolensky; With a preface him about Tarde’s general ideas. - St. Petersburg: V.I. Gubinsky, 1899. - 100 p.
• Social laws = (Les lois sociales): Personal creativity among the laws of nature and society / Gabriel Tarde; Per. from fr. A.F., ed. and with a preface. L. E. Obolensky. - St. Petersburg: V.I. Gubinsky, 1900. - 120 p.
  • Social laws / G. Tarde; Per. from fr. F. Shipulinsky. - SPb.: type. P. P. Soikina, 1901. - 63 p.
    • ... -: LKI, 2009. - 64 p. ISBN 978-5-397-00856-3
• Social logic / Tarde; Per. from fr. M. Tseytlin. - SPb.: type. Y. N. Erlich, 1901. - VIII, 491 p.
  • Social logic. - St. Petersburg: Social and Psychological Center, 1996. ISBN 5-89121-001-0
• Opinion about the crowd. - St. Petersburg, 1901.
  • Opinion and the crowd // Psychology of crowds. - M.: Institute of Psychology RAS; Publishing house KSP+, 1999. - 416 p. - (Library of Social Psychology.) ISBN 5-201-02259-6, 5-89692-002-4
• Public opinion and the crowd = (L’opinion et la foule) / G. Tarde; Per. from fr. edited by P. S. Kogan. - M.: t-type. A.I. Mamontova, 1902. - IV, 201 p.
  • Personality and the crowd = (L’opinion et la foule): Essays on social. psychology / G. Tarde; Per. from fr. E. A. Predtechensky. - St. Petersburg: A. Bolshakov and D. Golov, 1903. - , II, 178 p.
• Social studies / G. Tarda; Per. I. Goldenberg. - St. Petersburg: F. Pavlenkov, 1902. - VIII, 366 p.
• Excerpts from the history of the future = Fragment d’histoire future / Transl. N. N. Polyansky. - M.: V. M. Sablin, 1906. - 79 p.
  • Excerpts from future history / Trans. K.I.D; Tarde. - St. Petersburg: Popular-scientific. b-ka, 1907 (region 1908). - 90 s.
• Social laws = (Les lois sociales): Personal creativity among the laws of nature and society / Gabriel Tarde; Per. from fr. A.F., ed. and with a preface. L. E. Obolensky. - 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg: V.I. Gubinsky, 1906. - 120 p.
  • Reform of Political Economy: / Gabriel Tarde; Per. from fr. edited by L. E. Obolensky; With a preface him about Tarde’s general ideas. - 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg: V.I. Gubinsky, 1906. - 100 p.
• Criminal and crime / G. Tarde; Per. E. V. Vystavkina, ed. M. N. Gernet and with a foreword. N. N. Polyansky. - M.: T-vo I. D. Sytin, 1906. - XX, 324 p. - (Library for self-education, published under the editorship of A. S. Belkin, A. A. Kizevetter...; 29).
  • Criminal and crime. Comparative crime. Crimes of the crowd. / Comp. and preface V. S. Ovchinsky. - M.: INFRA-M, 2009. - 391 p. ISBN 5-16-001978-2
• Comparative crime: Trans. from fr. / Tard. - M.: I. D. Sytin’s company, 1907. - 267 p.

Literature

• Bazhenov N. N. Gabriel Tarde, personality, ideas and creativity: / N. Bazhenov. - M.: typo-lit. I. N. Kushnerev and Co., 1905. - 31 p.
• Bachinin V. A. History of philosophy and sociology of law: For students of legal, sociological and philosophical specialties / V. A. Bachinin. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of Mikhailov V. A., 2001. - 335 p. ISBN 5-8016-0244-5
• Davydov E. Another definition of crime / E. Davydov. // Journal of the Ministry of Justice: . - St. Petersburg: Printing house of the Government Senate, 1899. - No. 3. - P. - 180-189.
• Criminology: Textbook / I. Ya. Kozachenko, K. V. Korsakov. - M.: NORMA-INFRA-M, 2011. - 304 p. ISBN 978-5-91768-209-9.
• Tarnovsky E. N. Characteristics of Gabriel Tarde in the speech of A. Espinas / E. N. Tarnovsky. // Journal of the Ministry of Justice. - 1910. - No. 1, January. - P. 102-110.
• Shanice L. The theory of Tarde and Lombroso about the crimes of anarchists / L. Sheinis. // Bulletin of Law. - 1899. - No. 10, December. - P. 312-323.
• Shumakov S. G. Tarde. Origin of family and property. With the addition of an essay by L. E. Obolensky. On the origin of family and property according to the theory of evolutionists and economic materialists. St. Petersburg, 1897 / S. Shumakov. // Journal of the Legal Society at the Imperial St. Petersburg University. - 1897. - Book two, February. - P. 1-4.

Notes

Partially used materials from the site http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Among the thinkers who left a noticeable mark on the study of social development, 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 19th and 20th centuries, have not lost their relevance today.

From the Jesuit school to the Sorbonne

Jean Gabriel Tarde was born on March 12, 1843 in the city of Sarlat, located in southwestern France, near Bordeaux. Fate did everything to direct his future life along the legal path: the boy’s father served as a judge, and his mother came from a family of famous lawyers who adorned the most high-profile trials of that time with their names.

Young Gabriel began his education at a Roman Catholic school, which was quite consistent with the social status of his parents. Having graduated 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 the subject of his study became jurisprudence. Having started his studies in his hometown, Gabriel Tarde completed them six years later within the walls of the famous

Scientific research of the city judge

Returning home as a certified lawyer, the young man continued the family tradition. Beginning in 1867 as an assistant judge and steadily rising through the ranks, seven years later he became a permanent judge in his home town of Sarlat, thus obtaining the position previously held by his father. Tarde served in this capacity for twenty years.

However, in his interests he did not limit himself only to issues related to judicial practice. While still at the university, Gabriel Tarde became interested in criminology and criminal anthropology - a science that studies the psychological, physiological and anthropological characteristics of repeat offenders.

Criminology studies that brought first fame

It should be noted that in the second half of the 19th century, criminology, designed to study the most diverse aspects of crimes, such as the conditions and reasons for their commission, ways and methods of prevention, but, most importantly, the personalities of the criminals themselves, received special development in France. It was there that the term “criminology” appeared, coined by the anthropologist Paul Topinard.

Deeply studying these problems, Tarde began publishing the results of his research in scientific journals, and when the Archive of Criminal Anthropology was created in Sarlat in 1887, he became its co-director. Subsequently, Gabriel Tarde's scientific works began to be published in separate publications, making him famous far beyond the borders of France.

Attempts to identify “born criminals”

Dwelling in some 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 research of the Italian forensic scientist 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 particular person to illegal actions. Simply put, he was trying to identify the anatomical type of “born criminals.”

For this purpose, a special archive was created in Sarlat, which received materials from all over the country obtained as a result of examinations of persons who had committed criminal offenses. Tarde 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, expanding the range of his research, and, in parallel with criminology, take up sociology. The reputation of a serious researcher, as well as fame in scientific circles, allowed Gabriel Tarde to take a high post in the Ministry of Justice, heading the crime statistics section there.

Tard Gabriel gained fame in his time not only as a scientist, but also as a teacher who raised a whole 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 educational and research center Collège de France, where he worked until his death in 1904.

Controversy with Emile Durkheim

In his works on sociological issues, Gabriel Tarde relied mainly on statistical data and used comparative analysis as the main research method. In them, he often polemicized with his contemporary, who also received recognition in scientific circles, the French sociologist

Unlike his colleague, who argued that it is society that shapes 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 dispute between learned men was about what is primary and what is secondary - the people who form society, or the society of which each person becomes a product.

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 involves 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 an integral structure.

Gifted individuals are engines of progress

The development of society, according to Tarde’s theory, occurs as a result of the fact that among its members individual gifted individuals periodically appear who are capable of breaking free from the general process of imitation and saying a new word in any area of ​​human activity. The fruit of their creativity can be both abstract ideas and concrete material values.

The new products they created - Tarde calls them “inventions” - immediately attract imitators and over time become a generally accepted norm. This is how, according to the scientist, all social institutions developed - the bulk of people, incapable of inventing anything, began to imitate innovators (inventors) and use what they created. It is also noted that not all innovations are accepted by society for imitation, but only those that fit into the previously established culture and do not conflict with it.

Criticism of the theory of collective consciousness

Nowadays, the book that Gabriel Tarde wrote in the last years of his life, “Opinion and the 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 this day, supposedly existing in isolation from individual minds, and representing something independent. Developing previously expressed ideas, the author points out the primary role of the consciousness of each individual and, as a consequence, his responsibility for actions committed by the crowd.

It is also worth recalling another topic to which Tard Gabriel devoted his works - the “crowd phenomenon.” On this issue, he argues with the French psychologist who argued that the 19th century was the “age of the crowd.” Objecting to him, Tarde argued that two completely different concepts should not be confused - the crowd and the public.

If the formation of a crowd requires close physical contact between the people composing it, then the public is formed by a community of opinions and intellect. In this case, it can be composed of people who are geographically located at a considerable distance from each other. His statement has become especially relevant these days, when the media are able to artificially create a community of the public, directing their opinion in the direction they need.

Other branches of science that interested Tarde

There are also other areas of science that Gabriel Tarde worked in - sociology was not his only field of activity. In addition to the criminology mentioned above, the scientist paid a lot of attention to such areas of social science as political science, economics and art history. The latter should not come as a surprise, since he once graduated from a Jesuit school with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In all of these areas 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 available to the public even before the revolution. For example, in 1892, a book was published in St. Petersburg (Gabriel Tarde, “The Laws of Imitation”), a summary of which was outlined above. In addition, his monographs “Crimes of the Crowd”, “The Essence of Art” and a number of others were published.

Tarde's ideas in the light of our days

The controversy that unfolded in the 19th century between Tarde and Durkheim over what is primary: the individual or society, has been continued in our days. Modernity has given new impetus to disputes between supporters of the interpretation of society as an independent organism and their opponents, who view it as a collection of independent individuals.

Despite differences in assessments of his scientific heritage, modern scientists pay tribute to Tarde’s merits as the founder of a number of popular branches 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 the individual, and not vice versa, became predominant. In this regard, Tarde somewhat lost its popularity.

One of its founders, the French criminologist and sociologist, professor of new philosophy at the College de France, Gabriel Tarde, had a great influence on the formation and development of psychological sociology.

Gabriel Tarde was born on March 12, 1843 in Sarlat, into a family of French aristocrats. In his youth, the romantically minded G. Tarde was fond of poetry and for some time considered it his calling. In 1860 he successfully passed the bachelor's examinations in humanities and then in technical sciences, and in 1869 he accepted an appointment to the position of assistant city judge. In 1873, G. Tarde was appointed deputy prosecutor of the Republic in the city of Russek, but after 2 years he returned to his hometown, where he worked as an investigator until 1894.

Due to his professional activities, G. Tarde became interested in various forensic problems and began to study the works of specialists (including C. Lombroso), with whom he soon established professional contacts (1882). The articles he published on criminology were received favorably. Soon, on the basis of these articles, he wrote and published the book “Comparative Criminology” (1886), in which he spoke out against primitive traditional ideas about the causes of crime and C. Lombroso’s theory of the innate causes of crime and the existence of types of “born criminals”, focusing on social causes of crime (education, imitation, etc.). The ideas of this book received support and had a significant influence on the formation and development of the French school of criminology. In 1890 he published two outstanding books: The Philosophy of Criminal Law and The Laws of Imitation.

"Philosophy of Criminal Law" was a major work on criminology, which applied a socio-psychological approach to legal problems and laid the foundations of modern sociology of law. This book brought G. Tarde fame in France and abroad (mainly in Italy and Russia). Even greater success fell on the lot of “The Laws of Imitation” - G. Tarde’s first book on sociology, which was recognized as an outstanding, classic work of psychological sociology and brought G. Tarde worldwide fame as the founder and leader of this direction. In 1893, G. Tarde successfully completed work on the book “Social Logic” (1893), the publication of which had a great influence on the development of European and American social thought. . In 1893: Mr. G. Tarde was invited to Paris, where he began to work on the problems of organizing criminal statistics in France, and in January 1894 he was appointed head of the criminal statistics service of the Ministry of Justice. G. Tarde spent the last 10 years of his life (1894-1904) in Paris, where he was mainly engaged in criminology and compiled annual reports on the state of crime in France. Due to his official duties, he also had to go on business trips (including to St. Petersburg). G. Tarde himself was not satisfied with his service, but his merits in this area were awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor (1897) - the highest award in France.

The Parisian period of G. Tarde's life was distinguished by a high level of intensity of his creative activity. He published a large number of articles in the leading scientific journals of his time on various problems of philosophy, sociology, social psychology, criminology, politics, economics, history, archeology, linguistics, etc.

His books were published one after another: “Essays on Sociology” (1895), “Universal Opposition” (1897), “Social Laws” (1898), “Etudes on Social Psychology” (1898), “Transformations of Power” (1899), “Public Opinion and the Crowd” (1901), “Economic Psychology” (1902), “Fragment of Future History” (1904). The release of each of them was a great event. The success of these books was determined by new problems, new ideas, and, of course, a brilliant, accessible presentation of very complex issues and excellent language.

G. Tarde's research on the problems of interaction between individual and mass behavior, social norms, the functioning of society, various forms of social life, the development of social sciences and many others entered the golden fund of sociology.

G. Tarde himself was sufficiently aware of his outstanding role in the development of social thought, although he assessed it with his characteristic modesty and tact. Over time, he became increasingly interested in teaching various social sciences and disciplines and willingly lectured on problems of politics and sociology at the School of Political Sciences and the Free College of Social Sciences. In 1900, G. Tarde headed the department of modern philosophy at the Collège de France and resigned from the Ministry of Justice. At the end of 1900, he was elected a member of the philosophy department of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. He lectured on international psychology, sociology, philosophy, and economic psychology.

G. Tarde's intensive activity as a scientist and professor brought not only creative fruits and fame. Since spring 1903t. Due to the exhaustion of his strength, his eye pain returned, due to which he was forced to reduce his research and teaching load. He was aging rapidly. E Tarde died on May 12, 1904.

In the books of G. Tarde “Laws of Imitation” (1890; Russian translation 1892, 1902), “Philosophy of Criminal Law” (1890; shortened Russian translation “Criminal and Crime”, 1906), “Social Logic” (1893; Russian translation 1901) , “Essay on Sociology” (1895), “Social Laws” (1898), “Etudes on Social Psychology” (1898; Russian translation “Personality and the Crowd. Essays on Social Psychology”, 1903), “Public Opinion and the Crowd” ( 1901; Russian translation 1902) and other works presented a complex of original ideas and concepts that had a significant impact on the creation, self-determination and evolution of sociology and social psychology.

According to Tarde’s teachings, society is a product of the interaction of individuals, due to which the basis of social development and all social processes is formed by “inter-individual” relations of people, the knowledge of which is the main task of sociology.

Calling for a particularly careful study of “personal characteristics, which alone are real, alone true, and which always exist within every society,” Tarde insisted that “sociology must proceed from the relationship between two consciousnesses, from the reflection of one by the other, just as astronomy proceeds from relations between two mutually attracting Masses."

Such an interpretation of the foundations and orientation of sociology inevitably led to the affirmation of its status as an “interpsychological” discipline, as a result of which in Tarde’s teaching sociology was often almost identified with “interpsychology.” To a decisive extent, this circumstance was determined by Tarde’s fundamental position, according to which psychology should be used as the basis of sociology, the progressive development of which will be conditioned and determined by its ever-increasing psychologization.

Carrying out the psychologization of sociology, Tarde focused mainly on the search for scientifically significant facts in the sphere of the individual psyche and especially inter-individual interaction between people. In his opinion, “one must demand “basic social facts not exclusively from intrabrain psychology, but mainly from interbrain psychology, that is, that which studies the origin of conscious relations between several, primarily two, individuals. Various groupings and combinations of these basic social facts and then form the so-called simple social phenomena...”1, which form the necessary basis of all social relations.

Tarde paid special attention to the study of various social processes that determine the formation, development and functioning of society. Of these many processes, he especially singled out the basic social processes that ensure the existence and development of humanity. Tarde considered three main social processes: repetition (imitation), opposition (opposition) and adaptation (adaptation).

Based on the fact that the laws of sociology should apply to all past, present and future states of society, Tarde tried to find universal and timeless social
patterns that could be reduced to several
universal sociological and psychological laws. IN
As such laws, he introduced “laws of imitation” into sociology, which are the core of his general sociological theory of imitation.

The general tenet of this theory was the idea that the main driving force of the historical process, as well as any human community, is the irresistible mental desire of people to imitate. Tarde especially emphasized that “the primary social fact consists of imitation, a phenomenon that precedes all mutual assistance, division of labor and contract.”

Insisting that “all the most important acts of social life are carried out under the rule of example,” Tarde argued that the “laws of imitation” discovered by him are inherent in human society at all stages of its existence, since “every social phenomenon has a constantly imitative character, characteristic exclusively of social phenomena."

These statements are essentially a formulation of what Tarde himself called the “laws of imitation,” which he interpreted as the natural basis, prerequisite and basic mechanism of interaction between people and social life. At the same time, he singled out initiative (innovation) and imitation (fashion and tradition) as significant phenomena of social life.

In direct connection with the “laws of imitation” and in their context, Tarde studied and explained the problem of social progress, paying special attention to its source and mechanism of action. According to Tarde, the only source of social progress is the discoveries and inventions that arise from the initiative and originality of individuals. These creative individuals, according to Tarde, develop fundamentally new knowledge and knowledge based on a new combination of already existing ideas and information. And knowledge ensures the progressive development of society.

At the same time, Tarde emphasized that the deep cause of social progress is imitation, since, on the one hand, any invention and the need for it are reducible “to primary psychological elements that arise under the influence of example,” on the other hand, thanks to imitation (which also exists in the form of traditions , customs, beliefs, fashion, etc.) selection and introduction of discoveries and inventions into the life of society are carried out. The social essence of this concept and the “laws of imitation” was quite clearly expressed by Tarde himself, who affirmed as the basic law of imitation the law of imitation of the lower strata of society by the higher. Tarde explained that giving this “law” a basic status by the fact that, according to his observations, “every most insignificant innovation tends to spread throughout the entire sphere of social relations, and in the direction from the upper classes to the lower ones.” Although in history, as is known, movement quite often took place in the opposite direction.

In general, in Tarde’s sociological research, priority was given to the study of the crowd as a form of social organization at the stage of established urban culture.

In an effort to solve this problem, Tarde emphasized that in relation to sufficiently developed societies that have reached mature stages of social evolution, it is necessary to talk not about “crowds”, but about “public” or “publics”. Introducing into sociological theory the idea of ​​the public as a special type of social community, he characterized it as a social association formed under the influence of various media of mass communication.

According to Tarde, the public, unlike the crowd, is not some kind of physical association of people. It represents a spiritually whole group of individuals “scattered” in space, which is characterized by the presence of a noticeable spiritual or ideological suggestion, “contagion without contact,” a community of opinions, a certain intellectualism and general self-awareness. Tarde believed that the fundamental difference between the public and the crowd is that in the public there is no leveling of people and everyone gets the opportunity for self-expression, while in the crowd a person loses his individuality and intellectuality, due to which the mental level of any crowd is significantly lower than the intelligence of the majority the people who make it up.

It is noteworthy that in discussing the public, Tarde considered it possible and necessary to emphasize its especially rapid growth in revolutionary eras. This is all the more interesting since he actively preached the desirability of overcoming intolerance on the part of “every crowd” (or nation among which the “mob spirit” reigns) and the benefit of “gradually replacing the crowd” with the public, since this replacement is “always accompanied by a gain in tolerance.” .

Tarde’s basic idea about the existence of “laws of imitation” was extended by him to the subject areas of various sciences and disciplines. The introduction of his ideas into criminology had a certain positive effect, as a result of which he is rightfully considered one of the founders of the criminological (legal) trend in sociology.

A person, Tarde rightly argued, is made a criminal, not born. According to Tarde, there are only a very few people who would always and everywhere commit crimes, natural or not, just as there are only a very few who would never, anywhere, succumb to the temptation to sin. The vast majority consists of persons who remain honest by the grace of fate, or of those who were pushed into crime by an unfortunate combination of circumstances. In general, Tarde’s concept is characterized by: an understanding of the criminal as a “social excrement” of society, formed in accordance with the laws of imitation and adaptation.

Tarde's exaggeration of the role of imitation in social life somewhat reduced the value of his interpsychological sociology. But in general, his work had a great influence on the formation of psychological sociology and social psychology. His ideas and works significantly influenced the formulation and research of a number of problems and theories of sociology. In modern sociology, these usually include the problem of interpersonal interaction, the problem of psychosocial mechanisms, the theory of socialization and social control, the problem of using statistical methods in sociology, etc.

Tarde's interpsychological sociology had a significant impact on French and Russian sociology. But it especially strongly influenced the development of American sociology and social psychology, many of whose leaders, including such major figures in psychological sociology as C. Cooley, E. Ross and others, were inspired and guided by the ideas of G. Tarde.

Introduction

The relevance of studying the heritage of the classics of sociological thought is due to the fact that the complex and contradictory processes taking place in Russia and in the world require sociologists to reorient their attention to those problems that have not been the primary object of research for a long time.

This is the problem of human existence in a completely technical and informatized world; the problem of personality as a huge reserve and impulse for social development. An anthropocentric approach is becoming a characteristic feature of sociology; the area of ​​its research is increasingly turning to the mechanism of the formation of the social process as the interweaving of countless lines of interaction between specific individuals. In this regard, there is growing interest in the heritage of the classics, in whose work this issue was dominant.

One of the predecessors of modern sociology is Jean Gabriel Tarde Tarde G. Opinion and the crowd // Psychology of crowds. M., Institute of Psychology RAS; KSP Publishing House, 1999. The scientist focused on the processes of social interaction of “intermental activity”, the problem of personality or the “primary social individual”, endowed with the ability of conscious initiative and acting as the central engine of social progress.

Gabriel Tarde explores the phenomenon of crowds. He draws attention to the fact that the crowd is attractive in itself, moreover, as he puts it, it has a certain charming effect. He makes a distinction between such concepts as crowd and public and considers his contemporary age to be the age of the public. The crowd, in his opinion, as a social group belongs to the past, is something inferior.

Goal: to study the legacy of Gabriel Tarde, his views on crowd psychology and his role in the development of modern sociology.

To achieve this goal, the following tasks must be completed:

explore the theoretical heritage of Gabriel Tarde;

consider the principles of differentiation between the crowd and the public in Tarde’s sociology;

analyze the significance of G. Tarde’s theory.

Gabriel Tarde and his social theory

Tard Gabriel (03/10/1843 - 05/19/1904) - French sociologist of the psychological school, criminologist. He considered the main social processes to be conflicts, adaptation and imitation, with the help of which an individual masters norms, values ​​and innovations.

Since the time of the Great French Revolution, the study of such a mass political community as the crowd has become “fashionable”. This specific socio-psychological phenomenon was not ignored by G. Tarde, who called the crowd the most “old” social group after the family. He defines it as a multitude of persons gathered at the same time in a certain place and united by feeling, belief and action. The crowd repeats the same actions, the same shouts, it is pettyly proud, it is useless to appeal to its reason; the crowd, with shouts, howls, and stomping, drowns out everyone who does not know how to guess it; the larger the crowd, the lower its level; the crowd, regardless of who it consists of (a professor or a fireman), loses the ability to control itself, because it does not think, but feels, and finally, the crowd weakens or destroys the individuality of the individuals included in it.

Analyzing the psychology of the crowd, G. Tarde made a distinction between the unconscious crowd, driven by the force of dark and destructive impulses, and the conscious public, which creates public opinion G. Tarde. Social logic. St. Petersburg, Social and Psychological Center, 1996. Thus, according to Tarde, spontaneous mood is a feature of the lower classes, and conscious opinion is a property of the “public” or intellectual privileged social groups.

The following ideas were reflected in G. Tarde's works: absolutization of the role of imitation in public life; study of the crowd as the most spontaneous manifestation of unorganized mass activity; differentiation of spontaneous mood and public opinion; analysis of the socio-psychological phenomenon of mentality, which he called “social logic”. A recognized classic of social psychology, he posed a number of problems that gave impetus to the development of political psychology.

Tarde's life and work can be divided into two periods: provincial and metropolitan. He lived for 50 years in his hometown of Sarlat and only for the last 10 years in Paris. A transfer to the capital in 1894 to the position of Director of the Statistical Bureau at the Ministry of Justice dramatically changed his life. He made a brilliant career, recognition and honors came to him: the chair of philosophy at the College de France, election to membership in the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences (Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques) in 1900.

During the Parisian period, his most serious works appeared: “Social Logic” (1895), “Social Laws. Personal creativity among the laws of nature and society" (1898); in the same year “Transformation of Power” was published, in 1902 - “Opinion and the Crowd” and “Economic Psychology”.

In 1895 and 1898 he publishes two volumes of different papers: Essays and Social Mixture and Essays in Social Psychology, respectively.

In 1904, after Tarde’s death, in the next issue of the journal “Archives of Criminal Anthropology” (“Archives d" Anthropologie criminelle”), dedicated to his memory, the utopia “Fragments of Future History” was published. The Parisian period was a harvest period, but it would have been impossible without the sowing and slow germination of his ideas during the period of provincial life.

Tarde's first works were devoted to criminology. From 1883 to 1890 he published two works: "Comparative Crime" (1886) and "Criminal Philosophy" (1890), as well as a dozen short articles. Since the 90s His main works on sociology and philosophy appear.

The transition from law to sociology was a general trend in the development of social sciences during this period. In 1890 Tarde's main work ("Laws of Imitation") was published, in which he outlined his point of view on the nature of all social phenomena as a chain of repetitions or imitation.

"The Laws of Imitation" contains a fairly complete and varied presentation of Tarde's basic sociological views. In his later works (“Transformation of Law”, “Transformation of Power” and “Economic Psychology”) he only applied his methodological principles to certain areas of social life.

However, his works in the field of philosophy and sociology aroused the greatest interest of the scientific community. This was evidenced by the numerous discussions that Tarde had to enter into with his European and American colleagues. His opponents at different times were D. Baldwin, F. Giddings, E. Durkheim, M.M. Kovalevsky, P. Leroy-Beaulieu, C. Lombroso, N.K. Mikhailovsky, M. Nordau, G.V. Plekhanov, A. Espinas.

General characteristics of psychological sociology

Gabriel Tarde, Gustave Le Bon

The formation of psychological sociology was one of the most significant phenomena in the process of the emergence and development of sociology as a science of society. It had a huge impact on the content and form of all sociology, on its capabilities, development and historical destiny.

A particularly significant role in the creation of psychological sociology was played by the formation and dissemination of psychologism - a methodological approach that affirmed the possibility of building various sciences on the basis of psychology and the advisability of complete or partial reduction of various fragments or even the entire social reality to mental reality.

Appearing at first in latent (hidden) and marginal (borderline) forms, the psychological version of sociological knowledge quite quickly formed and took shape as psychological sociology. In its development, it is possible to identify three main periods: 1. The period of the creation and formation of psychological sociology (from the mid-19th to the beginning of the 20th century).

2. The period of approval, constitution and institutionalization of psychological sociology (from the beginning of the 20th to the 60-70s of the 20th century).

3. The period of formation of the newest forms of psychological sociology (from the 60-70s of the 20th century to the present).

The most significant ideas and orientations of psychological sociology were developed in the first period of its existence, when its basic explanatory principles, methodological approaches, models, and trends were created in general terms.

One of its founders, the French criminologist and sociologist, professor of new philosophy at the College de France, Gabriel Tarde, had a great influence on the formation and development of psychological sociology.

Gabriel Tarde was born on March 12, 1843 in Sarlat, into a family of French aristocrats. In his youth, the romantically minded G. Tarde was fond of poetry and for some time considered it his

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calling. In 1860 he successfully passed the bachelor's examinations in humanities and then in technical sciences, and in 1869 he accepted an appointment to the position of assistant city judge. In 1873, G. Tarde was appointed deputy prosecutor of the Republic in the city of Russek, but after 2 years he returned to his hometown, where he worked as an investigator until 1894.

Due to his professional activities, G. Tarde became interested in various forensic problems and began to study the works of specialists (including C. Lombroso), with whom he soon established professional contacts (1882). The articles he published on criminology were received favorably. Soon, based on these articles, he wrote and published the book “Comparative Criminology” (1886), in which he opposed primitive traditional ideas about the causes of crime and C. Lombroso’s theory of the innate causes of crime and the existence of types of “born criminals”, focusing on social causes crime (education, imitation, etc.). The ideas of this book received support and had a significant influence on the formation and development of the French school of criminology. In 1890 he published two outstanding books: The Philosophy of Criminal Law and The Laws of Imitation.

"Philosophy of Criminal Law" was a major work on criminology, which applied a socio-psychological approach to legal problems and laid the foundations of modern sociology of law. This book brought G. Tarde fame in France and abroad (mainly in Italy and Russia). Even greater success fell on the lot of “The Laws of Imitation” - G. Tarde’s first book on sociology, which was recognized as an outstanding, classic work of psychological sociology and brought G. Tarde worldwide fame as the co-founder and leader of this direction. In 1893, G. Tarde successfully completed work on the book “Social Logic” (1893), the publication of which had a great influence on the development of European and American social thought.

In 1893, G. Tarde was invited to Paris, where he began to work on the problems of organizing criminal statistics in France, and in January 1894 he was appointed head of the criminal statistics service of the Ministry of Justice. G. Tarde spent the last 10 years of his life (1894-1904) in Paris, where he was mainly engaged in criminology and compiled annual reports.

History of sociology

couples about the state of crime in France. Due to his official duties, he also had to go on business trips (including to St. Petersburg). G. Tarde himself was not satisfied with his service, but his merits in this area were awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor (1897) - the highest award in France.

The Parisian period of G. Tarde's life was distinguished by a high level of intensity of his creative activity. He published a large number of articles in the leading scientific journals of his time on various problems of philosophy, sociology, social psychology, criminology, politics, economics, history, archeology, linguistics, etc.

His books were published one after another: “Essays on Sociology” (1895), “Universal Opposition” (1897), “Social Laws” (1898), “Etudes on Social Psychology” (1898), “Transformations of Power” (1899), “Public Opinion and the Crowd” (1901), “Economic Psychology” (1902), “Fragment of Future History” (1904). The release of each of them was a great event. The success of these books was determined by new problems, new ideas, and, of course, a brilliant, accessible presentation of very complex issues and excellent language.

G. Tarde's research on the problems of interaction between individual and mass behavior, social norms, the functioning of society, various forms of social life, the development of social sciences and many others entered the golden fund of sociology.

G. Tarde himself was sufficiently aware of his outstanding role in the development of social thought, although he assessed it with his characteristic modesty and tact. Over time, he became increasingly interested in teaching various social sciences and disciplines and willingly lectured on problems of politics and sociology at the School of Political Science and the Free College of Social Sciences.

In 1900, G. Tarde headed the department of modern philosophy at the College de France and resigned from the Ministry of Justice. At the end of 1900, he was elected a member of the philosophy department of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. He lectured on intermental psychology, sociology, philosophy, and economic psychology.

G. Tarde's intensive activity as a scientist and professor brought not only creative fruits and fame. In the spring of 1903, against the background of exhaustion, he began to experience pain in his eyes, because of which he was forced to reduce his research.

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In the books of G. Tarde “Laws of Imitation” (1890; Russian translation 1892, 1902), “Philosophy of Criminal Law” (1890; shortened Russian translation “Criminal and Crime”, 1906), “Social Logic” (1893; Russian translation 1901) , “Essay on Sociology” (1895), “Social Laws” (1898), “Etudes on Social Psychology” (1898; Russian translation “Personality and the Crowd. Essays on Social Psychology”, 1903), “Public Opinion and the Crowd” ( 1901; Russian translation 1902) and other works presented a complex of original ideas and concepts that had a significant impact on the creation, self-determination and evolution of sociology and social psychology.

According to Tarde’s teachings, society is a product of the interaction of individuals, due to which the basis of social development and all social processes is formed by “inter-individual” relations of people, the knowledge of which is the main task of sociology.

Calling for a particularly careful study of “personal characteristics, which alone are real, alone true, and which always exist within every society,” 1 Tarde insisted that “sociology must proceed from the relationship between two consciousnesses, from the reflection of one by the other, just as astronomy proceeds from the relationship between two mutually attracting masses” 2.

Such an interpretation of the foundations and orientation of sociology inevitably led to the affirmation of its status as an “interpsychological” discipline, as a result of which in Tarde’s teaching sociology was often almost identified with “interpsychology.” To a decisive extent, this circumstance was determined by Tarde’s fundamental position, according to which psychology should be used as the basis of sociology, the progressive development of which will be conditioned and determined by its ever-increasing psychologization 3 .

1 Sombart V. Sociology: Reader. M., 1926. S. 85-86.

2 Tard G. Social laws. P. 16.

3 Tard G. Personality and crowd. Essays on social psychology. St. Petersburg, 1903.
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