Ideas spread only across terrain prepared by prior slow imitation

Evidence

What is essential is ‘a preparation of souls by conversations or readings, by the regular visiting of clubs, of cafés, which have thrown on them, in a long contagion of slow imitation, the seal of previous ideas appropriate to receive the newcomer’. — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 117

Categorization

• XREF: Tarde’s ‘preparation of souls’ prefigures Laclau’s concept of equivalential chains and the pre-existing discourse that makes a demand legible. — connects to: Leaders are accepted only when embodying features shared with followers — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 153; Nativist ideas resurface faster because prior foundations persist submerged — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 647; Elementary foundational ideas grow into political pillars through innumerable repetition — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 651 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Societies absorb new ideas only when those ideas do not threaten core beliefs #expands (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1397
• Ideas that violate folk intuitions spread only with heavy institutional support #expands (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 361
• Elementary foundational ideas grow into political pillars through innumerable repetition #corroborates (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 651
• Nativist ideas resurface faster because prior foundations persist submerged #qualifies (0.72) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 647