Collective Memory

After emerging as an issue in sociology nearly a century ago, collective memory has come to be a topic of interest across the humanities and social sciences. The result is a vibrant discussion full of new insights but also one with so many directions that it is easy to lose sight of themes that connect them. Three assumptions, however, continue to frame most of this discussion at a general level. The first is that collective memory is a representation of the past shared by members of a group, suggesting that there may be nearly as many accounts of the past as there are groups. Second, the formation of groups and coalitions that share collective memories can occur quickly and produce powerful in-group identities. Third, these biases for one’s own group and against other groups shape how we collectively perceive, interpret, and later remember the same events, such as the overclaiming of responsibility by different nations for their contributions to World War II. We elaborate these assumptions in terms of several topics in the study of collective memory. These include the importance of language, especially narratives, in mediating collective memory; the formation of groups and the role of in-group and out-group biases in shaping schemata; and the role of group identity and collective narcissism in shaping collective memory.