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Gabriel Tarde ranks as one of the most outstanding sociologists of nineteenth-century France, though not as well known by English readers as his peers Comte and Durkheim. This book makes available Tarde’s most important work and demonstrates his continuing relevance to a new generation of students and thinkers. Tarde’s landmark research and empirical analysis drew upon collective behavior, mass communications, and civic opinion as elements to be explained within the context of broader social patterns. Unlike the mass society theorists that followed in his wake, Tarde integrated his discussions of societal change at the macrosocietal and individual levels, anticipating later twentieth-century thinkers who fused the studies of mass communications and public opinion research. Terry N. Clark’s introduction, considered the premier guide to Tarde’s opus, accompanies this important work, reprinted here for the first time in forty years.

This early work, originally published in 1899, contains the leading ideas of one of the most authoritative and distinguished writers in sociology and social psychology at the turn of the last century. Gabriel Tarde here outlines his three principal works on general sociology and the internal bond that unites them. A fascinating read for any sociologist, amateur or professional alike. Contents Include: Editors Preface; Authors Preface; Introduction; The Repetition of Phenomena; The Opposition of Phenomena; The Adaptation of Phenomena; Conclusion. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.