Gabriel Tarde: imitation, invention and economy

This paper provides an introduction to the sociology of Gabriel Tarde and to the papers in this special issue. The first part of the paper examines how Tarde conceived of the relations between sociology and the natural sciences, including astronomy and physical geography. It also discusses Tarde's account of the significance and value of statistics and archaeology as sociological methods. The second part of the paper focuses on the importance of the concepts of imitation and suggestion in Tarde's economic psychology, and discusses the contemporary relevance of his work. Keywords: Tarde; invention; imitation; suggestion; economic psychology; history of sociology.