Social memory: definition, features, examples

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Remembering your past is very important for every person. History is an area in which everyone should be knowledgeable, because it gives the key to understanding the events of the distant past. This, in turn, can save humanity from mistakes in the future. The social memory of mankind is a huge living system that grows every day, "feeding" on memories, literature, music, etc.

Cultural heritage of society

Social memory, which will be defined below, is considered a subject for interdisciplinary research because it is very multifaceted. It is an important system that allows the transmission of cultural heritage, which is very voluminous, diverse and chaotic. Due to the fact that humanity has invented many ways to transfer its knowledge, impressions and thoughts to future generations, the social memory of society is huge, every person can draw from it.

Cultural heritage is very important, because it explains the past and helps to understand the future. The universal memory cannot disappear, but, unfortunately, it is very easy to distort it. The issues of true preservation of history are de alt with not only by specialists, but also by ordinary people. They writebiographies, memoirs that are not published anywhere, but simply lie in an old house, in a dusty closet, and wait in the wings. Everything secret sooner or later becomes clear, so humanity will know its true history.

Origins

In order to understand what the concept of social memory means, one should delve a little into psychology and philosophy. Both of these sciences say that there is a kind of collective unconscious that directs the entire society. It is very difficult to describe this system specifically, but the fact that it really exists has already been proven more than once. The term is difficult to understand intelligibly for a number of reasons. First, it should be understood that we are talking about a purely theoretical concept. Secondly, it is rather difficult to give an example. However, I would like to note that modern scientists have advanced much further than their predecessors and were able to define this concept and give specific examples.

The development of the idea of human social memory has a rather long tradition in the history of psychology. Domestic psychologists actively de alt with this issue, trying to find confirmation of it. L. S. Vygotsky, A. R. Luria and other scientists were able to prove that turning political and historical events in the life of society can influence the human psyche and memory, raising them to a new level.

Social memory

The term represents some form of transfer of "memory capital" of social groups, and also expresses certain ideas, attitudes and values. social memoryhumanity acts as a bearer of moral, cultural norms and values. Thanks to her, the accumulated "capital" of memory can be used in the process of communication, as well as recreate it.

It is worth noting that the term "social memory" is the subject of study by scientists from different fields of knowledge. Therefore, it is important to understand that the concept is very multifaceted. However, modern scientific literature will not explain the social memory system, its structure and content. In general, there are many definitions of this concept, since everything depends on the methodological approach of a particular science.

For example, the informational approach defines social memory as the transmission of information through temporal channels. On the other hand, psychologists explain the term as the totality of all the information that is in society. Also, one should not forget that such concepts as the historical experience of mankind, historical truth, counter-memory, shared memory are associated with this concept.

Historical memory of mankind

Historical consciousness implies the memory of all events in the history of mankind. This is a separate category, which is included in a large complex of social memory. Historians were the first to use the concept of "historical memory", who began to notice similar turns of the same events at certain intervals of time. The historical consciousness of society is a collection of messages, myths, stories that are passed down from generation to generation. In terms of how reliableis the historical memory of society as a whole, it should be said that it is more a set of distorted reflections on the events of the past.

Historical memory most vividly conveys negatively colored events that had significant consequences. Most often, stories about injustice, oppression, bullying are transmitted when it comes to the historical memory of a particular people.

Historical memory is often mistakenly confused with cultural, however, the difference between the concepts is great. Cultural memory is a set of common basic ideas of the whole society about the past, which are built on cultural monuments, literature, etc. At the same time, one should not underestimate the influence of all cultural factors on a person's perception of the past.

Manipulation of social memory

Methods and forms of preserving historical memory are very diverse, especially in a rapidly developing science. Before considering ways to preserve historical memory, it should be noted that all of them have a huge impact on a person's perception of himself in history, as well as on the interpretation of the past. Skillful manipulation of the past at the state level can lead to stunning consequences, because the nation will not be able to turn to its true origins. Unfortunately, the manipulation of history by the authorities is very common, which has an extremely negative effect on the perception of the past of their people by young people. Many facts are skillfully and deliberately hidden, and something completely disappears from the historical chronicle. It is very difficult to influence this, because historians compose textbooks. However, are they sure of the veracity of the knowledge that they received in a higher educational institution? This question continues to be open.

Ways to preserve the memory of mankind

Methods and forms of preserving historical memory were created gradually. The first form of preserving the memory of society was rock paintings, by which the younger generation learned about how their ancestor lived. Architecture had a very great influence on people before writing appeared. The development of writing marked the beginning of a huge process that continues to this day. Thanks to manuscripts and scrolls, the older generation passed on important and secret information to their followers. No wonder they say: what is written with a pen cannot be cut down with an ax. Why did writing so sharply capture everyone and everything? Let's start with the fact that architecture was available only to masters of their craft. They did their work commissioned by rich nobles, because most of the architects were poor, but talented. It can be objected that only a few were literate, and this is true. But literacy could be learned much faster, and it did not require special permissions - write whatever you want. The clergy were given the opportunity to pass on their thoughts, observations and teachings from generation to generation. Moreover, literate people began to write fiction, describing in it all the sorrow of their situation. The older generation got the opportunity to accumulate wisdom and pass it on to their children. Actually, literature is a powerful tool for preserving the social memory of society. Also important, but less significant forms of preserving social memory include: music, architecture, festivities.

With the advent of general education schools, an important place in the formation of the historical consciousness of mankind began to belong to textbooks. It is them that the students believe unquestioningly, and it is from there that they draw all the information. Folklore, memoirs, textbooks, biographies, holidays, memorial days, architecture have a huge impact on the formation of an integral cultural memory. In the modern world, influence has only increased, as the media, radio, television, and the Internet have rapidly developed. Society should understand that real historical facts rarely lie on the surface, so information from any source should be criticized and subjected to logical doubt.

Features

If you are interested in the question of what are the features of social memory, you should once again return to the definition of the term, but we will not do this. Features of social memory (as opposed to the memory of a particular individual) is that the memory of any person is finite, it has a beginning, but will invariably come to an end. An individual person cannot be the bearer of historical memory. Speaking of social memory, one can never single out a few people or a group of people who are its bearers. The definition refers to a group of people, but the largest group of people is the society of the whole world. It is each individual person who is a member of society that is a small component of social memory. culturalheritage is impossible without society, without a group of people who interpret and transmit it in their own way.

Many scientists emphasize that if social memory is the totality of the memory of individual people, then the whole exceeds its individual components in importance. This is a very important conclusion that leads to an understanding of the importance of the community of people, the mutual exchange of knowledge and global interaction.

Features of social memory come down to one global understanding - it has no boundaries. It can cease to exist only if all of humanity, down to a single person, disappears. For even one person can recreate the entire past of a kind. Yes, it will be incomplete and inaccurate, but even in this form, social memory will continue to exist.

Who handled this issue?

It is important to note that for the first time the term "social memory" was used by a scientist from Estonia J. Rebane in one of the Soviet books on psychology. This concept was actively developed, and scientists V. A. Rebrin and Yu. A. Levada. It was these researchers who contributed to the fact that the term was recognized in the scientific community.

Today, the social memory of mankind is of interest to a huge number of scientists around the world. It is worth noting that in recent years, interest in memory as a brain phenomenon has noticeably grown. New research allows you to create training programs that help you remember information in large volumes and in a reasonable time. Since the information boom hit society very rapidly, many people began to think about filtering the information received. After all, information garbage is simply limitless. If you let everything through you, you can get lost in the flow and bring the brain into a state of shock.

It is very important to study only the necessary specifics, which does not contain unnecessary information or lengthy reflections. An increasing number of scientists from different fields are turning their attention to the unique possibilities of human memory. At the same time, researchers focus on the fact that even half has not yet been studied.

In the last century, social memory was addressed by: Maurice Halbwachs, J. Le Goff, B. Genet, Pierre Nora, P. Hutton and Aleida Assman. These scientists made a great contribution to the development of the concept of shared memory. Due to the fact that they paid attention to this significant and complex issue, its study continues to this day. At the moment, the following scientists are working on issues of social memory in Russia: I. M. Saveliev, A. I. Filyushkin, L. P. Repina, O. B. Leontiev, N. E. Koposov. This is only a small part of a large group of scientists who have devoted their lives to studying the phenomenon of the collective memory of the world. The issue of this issue is also included in the curriculum in higher education institutions. This was done not only to educate young people in this matter, but also to bring fresh ideas to the youth, having become interested in this topic. In the USA, for example, the scientific journal "History &Memory" is regularly published, whichcovers this topic in detail, as well as all new ideas, ideas and discoveries.

Social mentality

The socio-historical memory of society is very clearly expressed in the mentality of peoples or individual social groups. Mentality is a small but important component of the vast social memory complex. Any mentality is a living, changing, active form of society's memory, or, in other words, everyday cultural heritage. The unconscious part of the social mentality of society consists of attitudes, which are called archetypes. They are a set of any stereotypes, opinions, judgments in any field, and have a great influence on a person's awareness of any event. In fact, archetypes largely determine the response of society to certain events. It also opens up huge opportunities for manipulation, because the opinions and actions of the people or society can be cleverly controlled, referring to supposedly true events of the past.

In the modern world, this is done very easily, because ordinary people do not have access to primary information. You can only learn about events from the Internet or television, which provide information in a certain vision, which is completely subjective and untrue.

Examples of social memory

A vivid example of the social memory of the people can be seen in very simple things: in how the nation treats other peoples, how it chooses a political leader, how it builds its culture, how it educates the younger generation. Separately, each of these factors does not seem significant enough to affectsocial memory of society. However, this appearance is deceptive, because the sum of the parts exceeds itself, representing something big. An example of the social memory of an individual is clearly visible in his everyday habits, judgments and decisions that he makes. The influence of the environment, as well as knowledge about the past, even if they are not systematized, has a huge impact on human behavior in today's conditions. Knowing about his great ancestors, a citizen more actively manifests himself in the political, economic and social arena of the state. And citizens who are accustomed to being pushed around become passive and apathetic, without even making an attempt to correct the situation.

The issue of independence is very important for every people, it is in relation to this problem that much can be said about what archetypes a certain people lives by. Many ethnic groups sing of their deplorable situation, complaining about bad rulers and bad luck. But is this really the case, or is it just a ingrained habit of suffering from generation to generation and being subjugated?

Summing up the article, you should focus on the fact that every single person is a part of something bigger. It is worth remembering this when teaching your children, choosing a country, making an important decision. It is your actions today that will guide the next generation. And although the issues have not yet been sufficiently studied, it can be said with confidence that culture and social memory will develop rapidly and promisingly.