TY - JOUR
T1 - Collective memory between stability and change
AU - Glăveanu, Vlad Petre
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - This commentary examines the relationship between stability and change within collective memory, a topic inspired by Nicholson’s paper on the Israeli–Palestinian protracted conflict and Awad’s paper on the use of symbols during the Egyptian revolution. Starting from a basic working definition of this concept as designating our relation, as individuals and communities, to the collective past, the commentary proposes a multi-layer model of collective memory including macro or societal (collective representations, ideologies), meso or group (social representations, narratives), and micro or individual/inter-personal processes (remembering, meaning-making). Instead of a more classic unidirectional model that portrays change as always beginning from the micro level and stability as attached mostly to the macro level of analysis, a bidirectional model is advanced in which stability and change take place at once and often as a consequence of the same processes, independent of their level. In the end, an argument is put forward regarding the theoretical and practical importance of considering not only ‘what’ but also ‘who’ performs collective memory.
AB - This commentary examines the relationship between stability and change within collective memory, a topic inspired by Nicholson’s paper on the Israeli–Palestinian protracted conflict and Awad’s paper on the use of symbols during the Egyptian revolution. Starting from a basic working definition of this concept as designating our relation, as individuals and communities, to the collective past, the commentary proposes a multi-layer model of collective memory including macro or societal (collective representations, ideologies), meso or group (social representations, narratives), and micro or individual/inter-personal processes (remembering, meaning-making). Instead of a more classic unidirectional model that portrays change as always beginning from the micro level and stability as attached mostly to the macro level of analysis, a bidirectional model is advanced in which stability and change take place at once and often as a consequence of the same processes, independent of their level. In the end, an argument is put forward regarding the theoretical and practical importance of considering not only ‘what’ but also ‘who’ performs collective memory.
KW - change
KW - Collective memory
KW - communication
KW - dialogism
KW - stability
U2 - 10.1177/1354067X17695766
DO - 10.1177/1354067X17695766
M3 - Comment/debate
AN - SCOPUS:85019915802
SN - 1354-067X
VL - 23
SP - 255
EP - 262
JO - Culture and Psychology
JF - Culture and Psychology
IS - 2
ER -