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Imitation, Contagion, Suggestion: On Mimesis and Society
Terrorist attacks seem to mimic other terrorist attacks. Mass shootings appear to mimic previous mass shootings. Financial traders seem to mimic other traders. It is not a novel observation that people often imitate others. Some might even suggest that mimesis is at the core of human interaction. However, understanding such mimesis and its broader implications is no trivial task. Imitation, Contagion, Suggestion sheds important light on the ways in which society is intimately linked to and characterized by mimetic patterns.
Taking its starting point in late-nineteenth-century discussions about imitation, contagion, and suggestion, the volume examines a theoretical framework in which mimesis is at the center. The volume investigates some of the key sociological, psychological, and philosophical debates on sociality and individuality that emerged in the wake of the late-nineteenth-century imitation, contagion, and suggestion theorization, and which involved notable thinkers such as Gabriel Tarde, Emile Durkheim, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Furthermore, the volume demonstrates the ways in which important aspects of this theorization have been mobilized throughout the twentieth century and how they may advance present-day analyses of topical issues relating to, e.g. neuroscience, social media, social networks, agent-based modelling, terrorism, virology, financial markets, and affect theory.
One of the significant ideas advanced in theories of imitation, contagion, and suggestion is that the individual should be seen not as a sovereign entity, but rather as profoundly externally shaped. In other words, the decisions people make may be unwitting imitations of other people’s decisions. Against this backdrop, the volume presents new avenues for social theory and sociological research that take seriously the suggestion that individuality and the social may be mimetically constituted.
Taking its starting point in late-nineteenth-century discussions about imitation, contagion, and suggestion, the volume examines a theoretical framework in which mimesis is at the center. The volume investigates some of the key sociological, psychological, and philosophical debates on sociality and individuality that emerged in the wake of the late-nineteenth-century imitation, contagion, and suggestion theorization, and which involved notable thinkers such as Gabriel Tarde, Emile Durkheim, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Furthermore, the volume demonstrates the ways in which important aspects of this theorization have been mobilized throughout the twentieth century and how they may advance present-day analyses of topical issues relating to, e.g. neuroscience, social media, social networks, agent-based modelling, terrorism, virology, financial markets, and affect theory.
One of the significant ideas advanced in theories of imitation, contagion, and suggestion is that the individual should be seen not as a sovereign entity, but rather as profoundly externally shaped. In other words, the decisions people make may be unwitting imitations of other people’s decisions. Against this backdrop, the volume presents new avenues for social theory and sociological research that take seriously the suggestion that individuality and the social may be mimetically constituted.
234 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 16, 2019
6 people want to read
About the author
Christian Borch
16 books4 followersChristian Borch is a Danish sociologist whose research explores how new technologies, especially machine learning and algorithmic trading, are reshaping financial markets and urban life. His work blends social theory with fieldwork among traders, developers and regulators in global finance hubs.
For the Norwegian journalist see Christian Borch
For the Norwegian journalist see Christian Borch
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October 22, 2019
This book is an edited edition of some big names in affiliation with affect theory as well as science and technology studies (STS) on reconceptualizing Tarde's sociology and political economy with a revised idea of a non-Freudian psychology.
This book was not near as explanitory as it could have been. This book is more of a loose anthology of ideas that is non-exhaustive in sociology, psychology and information science research, and does not spend much time with clarity. It largely balances between delineating theory and recent interpretation in the sciences. In doing so, what this book does is offer a sequence of things to follow up in order to understand how one might use "Imitation", "Contagion", "Mimesis", or "Suggestion" in several fields. It does not go so far as to explain precisely what the "Imitation, Contagion, Suggestion" paradigm actually is, or how it is actively being used to interpret data, which is what it argues it is doing.
This book does a good job at explaining how one might come to a more Tarde-esque theory of the social and why one might use it. It also does a good job of explaining how continental philosophical traditions have entered academic discourse in an information based sociological/psychological episteme. At the moment, this book is more speculative of the coming of a science than scientific. It is a description of how a new theory of society might happen via Tarde, but this is nothing that has not been speculated before. This book might be a little too soon, or not thorough enough at this point.
This book was not near as explanitory as it could have been. This book is more of a loose anthology of ideas that is non-exhaustive in sociology, psychology and information science research, and does not spend much time with clarity. It largely balances between delineating theory and recent interpretation in the sciences. In doing so, what this book does is offer a sequence of things to follow up in order to understand how one might use "Imitation", "Contagion", "Mimesis", or "Suggestion" in several fields. It does not go so far as to explain precisely what the "Imitation, Contagion, Suggestion" paradigm actually is, or how it is actively being used to interpret data, which is what it argues it is doing.
This book does a good job at explaining how one might come to a more Tarde-esque theory of the social and why one might use it. It also does a good job of explaining how continental philosophical traditions have entered academic discourse in an information based sociological/psychological episteme. At the moment, this book is more speculative of the coming of a science than scientific. It is a description of how a new theory of society might happen via Tarde, but this is nothing that has not been speculated before. This book might be a little too soon, or not thorough enough at this point.
Displaying 1 of 1 review