The Imitation Game: On the Sociological Reconstruction of the Historical Semantics of "Imitation" with Text Mining Methods

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The research proposal is based on the observation of a significant conceptual change in the meaning and evaluation of “imitation” during the 18th century. Whereas imitation was previously seen as a way of stabilizing social order, it is increasingly interpreted as endangering a society in which guarantees of stability are paradoxically seen in novelties, deviations and singularities.The aim of this research project is to reconstruct the historical, linguistic and socio-structural conditions of this process of semantic change. Thus, it fulfills a desideratum of a more recent sociological discourse, which until now has primarily focused on implicit cognitive, affective, bodily and material aspects of everyday practices of imitation. While this discourse regards imitation rather as an ahistorical anthropological universal, "imitation" is also understood here as a historically variable concept, which decisively influences how a certain social behavior is observed and evaluated in a certain historical period. This approach not only allows for sociological conclusions about the long-term change of social structures. It also paves the way for a historically informed reflection on "imitation" as a basic sociological concept and, finally, for contributions to an interdisciplinary history of ideas on "imitation", which has so far rather been the subject of debates within the Humanities.Methodologically, the research project follows a systems-theoretical approach to semantic analysis. The focus is on exploring the interrelationship between the transformation of social structures on the one hand and semantics in the form of central concepts and key distinctions on the other. This approach is complemented by the application of explorative text mining methods, which are increasingly being used in conceptual history for the analysis of large text corpora.The research grant enables the applicant to learn the necessary programming skills for text mining methods in an interdisciplinary environment at Utrecht University. In addition, it facilitates international networking in the fast-growing field of Digital Humanities and the fulfilment of formal requirements for applying for an interdisciplinary DFG junior research group within the framework of the Emmy Noether Programme.