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likely it is to be imitated. 41 A new type of horsedrawn cart is not likely to be imitated by a society that
has not yet invented the wheel, any more than by another which makes widespread use of automobiles
and railroad trains. The “extra-logical” form of the same law—the more an invention meets the
predominant cultural emphasis, the more likely it is to be imitated—calls attention to such
nontechnological factors as the relative cultural emphasis on novelty as opposed to tradition. 42
Attention to these two contrasting emphases—the logical or the extra-logical—resulted in two
corresponding types of laws. Concern with the logical aspects of invention and imitation moved
Tarde to distinguish inventions that could be used as substitutes for one another from those that could
be accumulated without displacing others. When two substitutable inventions compete—contrasting
linguistic expressions, or forms of dress—the result is a “logical duel”; when two complementary
inventions are brought together, the result is “logical union”—for example, the wheel and the
domesticated animal in the horsedrawn cart. But even logically opposed inventions will not be forced
into overt opposition with one another unless observers in the society around them point out their
incompatibility; in the absence of such criticism, relatively incompatible inventions may very well
coexist for some time. Eventually, however, their presence tends to generate what Tarde referred to,
in a discussion in many ways similar to more recent ones dealing with “cognitive dissonance,” 43 as
one of two basic types of “logical strain.” The second source of strain is in the absolute advance of
knowledge, which would lead to increasing numbers of logical unions. To explain the source of this
strain, Tarde does not rely on what more culturally-oriented social scientists might have posited—the
incomplete attainment of a basic value favoring the increase of knowledge. On the contrary, his
preference for “inter-mental” explanation becomes apparent. Both types of strains originate in a
common source: the intensive interaction of minds, which leads to rapid circulation of ideas and to
greater consistency of thought as well as a tendency toward the expansion of knowledge. 44 Thus,
stated in propositional form, the more frequent the interaction in a society, the greater the strain
toward consistency of thought, and the more rapid the growth of knowledge.
But Tarde recognized that such a formulation is too simple. Ignoring cultural variables at outset he
introduced them later. Societies, as well as historical periods, vary, he pointed out, in the relative
emphasis that they place on consistency as opposed to inventiveness. He even suggests a cyclical
pattern according to which societies would alternate between an emphasis first on inventiveness and
then on consistency; when large numbers of inventions are being created, consistency is difficult to
maintain, but over time efforts toward rationalization become increasingly essential. The nineteenth
century, he suggests, was a century of massive invention, and perhaps the twentieth century would
have to be devoted to rationalizing the discoveries of the nineteenth. As far as social thought is
concerned, there seems to have been more than a grain of truth in this prediction, at least for the first
half of the twentieth century.
Turning to the “extra-logical” laws of imitation, we find one general principle underlying much of
Tarde’s discussion: initially inventions tend to be imitated by those parts of man and society that are
closest to the source of invention, from which they subsequently radiate outward to more distant
parts. 45 While not explicitly stated, this principle lies behind Tarde’s otherwise less than obvious law
that imitations spread “from the inner to the outer man.” Nowhere is his general preference for
intellectual over material causes more apparent than in the propositions deriving from this law. 46
Tarde posits that ideas are communicated before their material expressions; religious dogmas are
transmitted before the associated rites; ends are disseminated before the means to their attainment;
general ideas are accepted before they receive juridical or legislative support. In this series of