Collective Memory, Psychology of

Abstract

Behavioral and social scientists share certain views concerning the psychology of collective memory. They recognize that (a) collectivities require a shared memory of the past as a basis for social identity and (b) memory is malleable, subject to substantial distortion. Differences exist, however, between neo-Durkheimians, who emphasize the defining role of the present in the construction of past memories, and neo-Freudians, who shift the focus to the intrusive role of the past upon the present. In the former, collective memory is understood largely in relation to the shaping of a collective consciousness, with the past as a symbolic resource for the achievement of a solidaristic community. In the latter, collective memory is understood as reactive to the intrusion of traumatic experience from the past upon the present. For neo-Durkheimians, collective memory is in service to present day needs and interests; for neo-Freudians, collective memory expresses the legacy of traumatic pasts inscribed in the present.