Download Social Theory: Collective Memory

Social Theory:
Collective Memory
Bin Xu
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies
Florida International University
Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945)
• Influenced by Henri
Bergson and Emile
Durkheim
Halbwachs: Social Frameworks of
Memory
• “…it is in society that people normally acquire their
memories. It is also in society that they recall,
recognize, and localize their memories.” (p.38)
• Compared to Durkheim’s idea about suicide and
sociological theory in general
• Different types of social frameworks: family, religion,
social classes, etc.
Marcel Proust’s madeleine
• Read the passages from
Remembrance of Things Past.
• Is Proust’s memory
triggered by madeleine a
remembrance within
social frameworks?
• Why?
• Do you have similar
experience?
More about Proust and madeleine
(for fun)
• How much did Proust know about madeleines?
• The term “involuntary memory” coined by Proust
might be an inaccurate description of the memory
process in the passages.
Reconstruction of the Past
• “…the past is not preserved but is reconstructed on
the basis of the present” (p.40).
Reconstruction of the Past
• Case: Nostalgia
• Why are the old days always good?
• Why do old people tend to be more nostalgic?
Social Classes and Collective
Memory
• Memory at the core of the nobility’s identity
• The rising bourgeoisie and its clash with the nobility
• Invention of the new nobility
Social Classes and Collective
Memory: Major Arguments
• Collective memory and class identity
• Collective memory as symbolic capital
• Technical and cultural aspects of modern
bureaucracy