Halbwachs' collective memory

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.  

Maurice Halbwachs – "Historical Memory and Collective Memory" – summary and review – part 2

In the chapter titled "Historical Memory and Collective Memory" in his book The Collective Memory Maurice Halbwachs discusses the function of collective memory in early childhood. According to Halbwachs, the instant children begin to take interest in the meaning of things around them is the instant they start to take part in the collective memory. Therefore, for Halbwachs, inter-generational relations play a key role in the formation and shaping of memory. Childhood memories are always revisited from the present and Halbwachs attributes a critical function to one's social surroundings in the manner in which we approach these memories.

   

Halbwachs suggests collective memory and historical memory as opposed to one another on to key issues:

1.       Collective memory, according to Halbwachs, exists outside time and space and is continues throughout the generations. Collective memory is neither elaborate nor detailed and is in a state of constant change according to society's needs. Historical memory, on the other hand, schematizes memory, classifies it and views it in great detail.

2.       Collective memory, says Halbwachs, is not one or something unified. Collective memory is, in fact, an assortment of collective memories. It is adapted to various groups and interpretations, and is therefore flexible and fluid, inaccurate and sometimes even self-contradictory. Collective memory sustains society as such and is therefore inward-turned and culturally subjective. Historical memory, on the other hand, attempts at presenting a single objective truth and has an outer perspective.

 Halbwachs viewed collective memory as a social fact. He perceived collective memory as something which exists outside the individual consciousness and there for an inherent part of social life. The function Halbwachs attributes collective memory is one of social consolidation much like the totemic principle suggested by Emile Durkheim. However, Durkheim and Halbwachs are divided on two issues. While Durkheim  suggests the past as leading to the present, Halbwachs suggests the present as returning to the past. Secondly, Durkhiem's take on things tends to imagine a unified society, while Halbwachs accounts for a multiplicity of collective memories.  

suggested reading on Halbwachs and collective memory:

Maurice Halbwachs – "Historical Memory and Collective Memory" – summary and review

Maurice Halbwachs – "Historical Memory and Collective Memory" – summary and review - part 1 (part 2)

French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs, one of Emile Durkheim's notable students, is most famous for introducing the term "collective memory". In his book The collective Memory he discusses society's relation to time and the past and introduces the concept of collective memory as a memory which is mutual the members of society.

Halbachs devotes a chapter titled "Historical Memory and Collective Memory" which elaborates on the difference between historical and collective memory. What Halbachs is after is the simple question of how we remember the past, finding out how the past is represented in an individual's and society's consciousness, and what are the mechanisms which shape memory.  

Halbwachs suggests three practices for organizing knowledge of the past in a manner compatible with contemporary society's need: 1. Autobiographical memory which contains personally experienced events. 2. Collective memory which contains events that were rendered to an individual by other members of society and 3. Historical memory which shapes the past through the work of historians. Halbwachs's chapter, "Historical Memory and Collective Memory", is devoted to discussing relational patterns between these memory practices.

Autobiographical memory and collective memory demonstrate the individual's role in shaping the past – first as a first hand accumulator of autobiographical memory and second as a retainer and distributer of collective memory. For Halbwachs, collective memory stands apart from autobiographical memory in that that it concerns all or many members of the group. Historical memory only concerns professionals (that is, historians) but it does have a function in limiting and shaping the scope of both autobiographical and collective memory.

Halbwachs additionaly argues that autobiographical memory is very limited in its ability to be completely personal. Although it seems that personal experiences and memories populate our memory, Halbwachs argues that these are often times mediated by our social surroundings. Collective memory, for Halbwachs, is a type of framework on which we can locate, understand and contextualize our own memories that gain significance only in relation, and through, collective memory.