When discussing large social trends or experiences, we tend to group people into generations. But what does it mean to be part of a generation, and what gives that group meaning and coherence? It's collective memory, say Amy Corning and Howard Schuman, and in Generations and Collective Memory, they draw on an impressive range of research to show how generations share memories of formative experiences, and how understanding the way those memories form and change can help us understand society and history.
Their key finding-built on historical research and interviews in the United States and seven other countries (including China, Japan, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Israel, and Ukraine)-is that our most powerful generational memories are of shared experiences in adolescence and early adulthood, like the 1963 Kennedy assassination for those born in the 1950s or the fall of the Berlin Wall for young people in 1989. But there are exceptions to that rule, and they're significant: Corning and Schuman find that epochal events in a country, like revolutions, override the expected effects of age, affecting citizens of all ages with a similar power and lasting intensity.
The picture Corning and Schuman paint of collective memory and its formation is fascinating on its face, but it also offers intriguing new ways to think about the rise and fall of historical reputations and attitudes toward political issues.
When discussing large social trends or experiences, we tend to group people into generations. But what does it mean to be part of a generation, and what gives that group meaning and coherence? It's collective memory, say Amy Corning and Howard Schuman, and in Generations and Collective Memory, they draw on an impressive range of research to show how generations share memories of formative experiences, and how understanding the way those memories form and change can help us understand society and history.
Their key finding-built on historical research and interviews in the United States and seven other countries (including China, Japan, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Israel, and Ukraine)-is that our most powerful generational memories are of shared experiences in adolescence and early adulthood, like the 1963 Kennedy assassination for those born in the 1950s or the fall of the Berlin Wall for young people in 1989. But there are exceptions to that rule, and they're significant: Corning and Schuman find that epochal events in a country, like revolutions, override the expected effects of age, affecting citizens of all ages with a similar power and lasting intensity.
The picture Corning and Schuman paint of collective memory and its formation is fascinating on its face, but it also offers intriguing new ways to think about the rise and fall of historical reputations and attitudes toward political issues.
Amy Corning is a research investigator at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. She resides in Virginia. Howard Schuman is professor of sociology and research scientist emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, Method and Meaning in Polls and Surveys. He lives in Maine.
"Generations and Collective Memory is a clear and cogent study that
adds significantly to the theoretical framework now available to
control that slippery term 'collective memory.' Marrying the best
of Maurice Halbwachs's thinking on collective memory to the
insights of Karl Mannheim on generations, Corning and Schumann go
beyond both to develop a notion of the 'critical years' from the
ages of ten to thirty in the life of an individual, during which
she identifies and remembers particular events as important. . . .
This well-framed hypothesis and its qualifications are tested
against abundant survey material, American, European, and Asian in
character, and by and large, their hypothesis is confirmed."--
"American Journal of Sociology"
"In Generations and Collective Memory, Corning and Schuman
synthesize their findings to date, breaking fresh ground in
theorizing the relationship between memory and generation as well
as the broad significance of generations as a sociological
variable. . . . Among memory scholars--both within sociology and
beyond--Generations and Collective Memory is a model for
interdisciplinary engagement and methodological pluralism. In
sociology, it deserves a wide readership, for it redeems Mannheim's
insight that generation should stand alongside the standard
variables of gender, race, and education, guiding us to a more
comprehensive understanding of the social forces that structure our
worlds."-- "Contemporary Sociology"
"Generations and Collective Memories is a terrific contribution to
several literatures. Drawing on historical accounts, repeated
sample surveys, survey experiments, content analysis, and literary
efforts, Corning and Schuman weave a fascinating, sensitive, highly
readable account of how collective memories are made and remade as
history unfolds and cohorts come and go. The book is replete with
examples of creative research, carefully argued themes--especially
that concerning the critical years hypothesis--and keen insights, a
book that will stand the test of time and inspire other work as
well."-- "Kent Jennings, University of California, Santa Barbara,
and University of Michigan (emeritus)"
"Generations and Collective Memory is a brilliant, and long
overdue, critical reconceptualization of what have now become the
most oft-cited, at times over-used, 'key terms' in contemporary
memory studies. It is also humane social science at its very
best--lucidly written, rich with profoundly insightful re-readings
of seemingly fixed examples of 'collective memory.' This should be
required reading for all who study the sociology and culture of
memory."-- "James E. Young, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst"
"For thirty years Schuman and his colleagues have focused on
examining how belonging to a generation affects various forms of
shared memory, producing research that has shaped the course of
collective memory research. Building on the theories of the
important German theorist Karl Mannheim, Corning and Schuman
provide a clear, concise, and compelling analysis of how belonging
to a generation shapes societal commitments through shared
experience and awareness. Generations and Collective Memory is
destined to become a touchstone work in the analysis of how history
becomes integral to politics and national affiliation."--Gary Alan
Fine "author of Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the
Evil, Inept, and Controversial"
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