Conceptual (re)construction of Maurice Halbwachs’ Theory of Collective Memory

• In Event: 606 - Section on Social Psychology Roundtable Session (co-sponsored with Section on Sociology of Emotions)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Beliefs, Emotions and Memory

Abstract

Since the first sociological theorization on the subject of memory made by Maurice Halbwachs in the 1920s, some central concepts of his theory still need proper clarification. Analyzing his main works on memory (Halbwachs, 1925, 1941, 1950), we reconstruct systematically how the two main concepts of his theory, individual memory and collective memory, distinct and relate to each other, and how both concepts depend upon the important notion of group. Moreover, as a scaffold for our reconstruction, we also devised the heuristic concepts of strong and weak mnemonic content epistemically accessible to understand better what are the circumstances and factors involved that allow some memories to be perpetuated through time. We believe the reconstruction of these core concepts offers a first steady step toward their instrumentalization and further application in empirical cases.

Author

• Veridiana Domingos Cordeiro, University of São Paulo