Halbwachs introduced the now common term of "collective
memory" to indicate a type of memory which is shared by an entire society.
Through collective memory one member of society can recall and re-experience an
important event that he did not himself take part in. collective memory
according to Halbwachs does only tell members of a society what they remember
or can remember but also how to remember and conceive various events in the
history of a social group.
What is interesting in the concept of collective memory by Halbwachs is
that each and every member of society takes part in building and shaping
collective memory. Thus, personal memory, what Halbwachs calls autobiographical
memory, is never truly personal because it is always in some sort of
relationship with the collective memory. Another type of memory contrasted by
Halbwachs to collective memory is historical memory. Unlike collective memory,
historical memory is "objective" and "scientific"
(according to Halbwachs rather naïve take on it), which is written and ordered.
Collective memory, on the contrast, is never formally articulated nor is it
never a stable thing which is unified across all members of society. It is
important to note that there is no one collective memory, and that the
collective memory is in actual fact a collection of collective memories or
various perspectives and standpoints towards collective memory.
An interesting situation regarding Halbwachs theory is when different
types of memory contradict. For instance when the personal,
autobiographical memory of an event such
a war as something traumatic contradicts with the collective memory of that war
as something heroic and important. Another possible clash is between the fluid,
undecided and often highly emotional collective memory and the accuracy seeking
historical memory. For example, historiography can relate to various events in
a very different fashion compared with popular sentiment regarding it.