On Collective Memory

How do we use our mental images of the present to reconstruct

our past? Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) addressed this

question for the first time in his work on collective memory,

which established him as a major figure in the history of

sociology. This volume, the first comprehensive English-

language translation of Halbwach's writings on the social

construction of memory, fills a major gap in the literature

on the sociology of knowledge.

Halbwachs' primary thesis is that human memory can only

function within a collective context. Collective memory,

Halbwachs asserts, is always selective; various groups of

people have different collective memories, which in turn give

rise to different modes of behavior. Halbwachs shows, for

example, how pilgrims to the Holy Land over the centuries

evoked very different images of the events of Jesus' life;

how wealthy old families in France have a memory of the past

that diverges sharply from that of the nouveaux riches; and

how working class constructions of reality differ from those

of their middle-class counterparts.

With a detailed introduction by Lewis A. Coser, this

translation will be an indispensable source for new research

in historical sociology and cultural memory.

Lewis A. Coser is Distinguished Professor of Sociology

Emeritus at the State University of New York and Adjunct

Professor of Sociology at Boston College.

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