The Revival of the Sociology of Culture: The Case of Collective Memory

A review article on three books by Maurice Halbwachs: The Collective Memory (New York: Harper & Row, 1951); (La Topographie legendaire des evangiles en terre sainte [The Legendary Topography of the Gospels in the Holy Land] Paris: Presses Universitaires, 1941); & (Les Cadres sociaux de la memoire [The Social Framework of Memory] Paris: Presses Universitaires, 1952 [1925] [see listings in IRPS No. 65]). The three volumes suggest that collective memory is not a given but rather a socially constructed notion. There are as many collective memories as there are groups & institutions in a society. Following a survey of the principal locations of memory from the religious to the domestic sphere, from memory in the area of stratification to various other group memories, Halbwachs argues that only in the area of dreams is the human experience not rooted in a social context & structure. A sharp distinction between historical & autobiographical memory is developed. Halbwachs develops Emile Durkheim's thoughts & applies them to the question of historical continuity, & also introduces the paradoxical notion that the past is a social construction, mainly if not wholly shaped by the concerns of the present. It is contended that collective memory cannot serve as a distinct prop to the prevailing historical period if the past is seen as totally alien, & that Durkheim was more perspicacious than Halbwachs in realizing that collective historical memory has both cumulative & presentist aspects. 11 References. S. Millett