A work so influential that its innovations became standard looks derivative to anyone encountering it after the imitators.
Cited by anyone encountering a hugely influential work after its imitators. It is a systematic distortion in how originality gets judged, and it affects the reputation of foundational work in every field.
In practice
- A student reads the paper that founded a field and finds it says only what the textbook already said.
- A management technique that was radical in 1985 reads as obvious now, and the person who reads it now concludes it was never insightful.
- Standing
- A systematic distortion in how originality is judged retrospectively.
- Subject
- Sociology & Culture
- Essay
- The measured patterns of social life