Psychological Phenomenon
Durkheim explicates, “That imitation is a purely psychological phenomenon appears clearly from its occurrence between individuals connected by no social bond…If, therefore, more readily transmissible by contagion than suicide, yet we have just seen that this contagiousness has no social effects.” Individuals may mimic suicidal predispositions by imprudently obliging to suicide; such individuals may not be genetically linked for the ‘contagion’ to emerge.
“Heart of Society”
Durkheim expounds, “Within a narrow circle it (Imitation) may well occasion the repetition of a single thought or action, but never are its repercussions sufficiently deep or extensive to reach and modify the heart of society. Thanks to the almost unanimous and generally ancient predominance of collective states, they are too far to be offset by an individual innovation.” The allegorical ‘ heart of the society’ denotes the definitive societal tenets that are unyielding. An individual does not have the aptitude to transform such principles; accordingly, imitation is not satisfactorily substantial to stimulate ripple repercussions in a society.
