On Collective Memory

How do we use our mental images of the present to reconstructour past? Maurice Halbwachs 18771945 addressed thisquestion for the first time in his work on colle... » 

How do we use our mental images of the present to reconstructour past? Maurice Halbwachs 18771945 addressed thisquestion for the first time in his work on collective memorywhich established him as a major figure in the history ofsociology. This volume the first comprehensive Englishlanguage translation of Halbwachs writings on the socialconstruction of memory fills a major gap in the literatureon the sociology of knowledge.Halbwachs primary thesis is that human memory can onlyfunction within a collective context. Collective memoryHalbwachs asserts is always selective various groups ofpeople have different collective memories which in turn giverise to different modes of behavior. Halbwachs shows forexample how pilgrims to the Holy Land over the centuriesevoked very different images of the events of Jesus lifehow wealthy old families in France have a memory of the pastthat diverges sharply from that of the nouveaux riches andhow working class constructions of reality differ from thoseof their middleclass counterparts.With a detailed introduction by Lewis A. Coser thistranslation will be an indispensable source for new researchin historical sociology and cultural memory.Lewis A. Coser is Distinguished Professor of SociologyEmeritus at the State University of New York and AdjunctProfessor of Sociology at Boston College.The Heritage of Sociology series «