Contagious Metaphor

The metaphor of contagion pervades critical discourse across the humanities, the medical sciences, and the social sciences. It appears in such terms as ''social contagion'' in psychology, ''financial contagion'' in economics, ''viral marketing'' in business, and even ''cultural contagion'' in anthropology. In the twenty-first century, contagion, or ''thought contagion'' has become a byword for cre...