Memory for Salient Shared Events

Abstract

Abstract The study of collective memory has burgeoned in the past few years, adopting either a top-down or bottom-up approach. This chapter reviews research from a top-down perspective. Social representations of world and national history, the character of national memories, the way in which personal memories give resonance to memories for public events, and the transmission of historically relevant personal memories, especially intergenerationally, are investigated, as well as collective future thinking. Although researchers are beginning to understand the nuances of the ways in which people represent the historical past and how these representations differ from history, a general theory is still needed.

Topics & Concepts