Abstract
Introduction. It is important to consider collective memory from the social constructionism prospective. The present study of collective memory is aimed at identifying the event series that constructs historic memories and determines what is more important to different generational groups of modern society. This paper is the first study on prevailing values in each generational group that characterizes the content of collective memories of the 20th century Russia.
Methods. The study employed quantitative and qualitative methods including (a) associative methods, (b) the Schwartz Value Survey, and (c) the questionnaire for comparing Russia of the 20th century and the ‘ideal’ Russia. The study sample consisted of 90 respondents of various ages from different regions of Russia.
Results. This section describes the content of group memories about Russia of the 20th century, the specific prevailing group values, and the results of comparing Russia of the 20th century with the ‘ideal’ Russia in three age groups. After analyzing the content of participants’ memories, the authors conclude that various events constitute the content of group memories, reflecting the group specific generational character. In participants’ representations Russia appeared to be both a far from an ideal country and a highly appreciated one. The study revealed that each generational group had its own structure of values.
Discussion. The analysis showed that the content of memories about Russia of the 20th century reflected the specific character of relation to the past in the studied groups. The results confirmed the hypothesis about specific group characteristics guiding construction of collective memories of a historical period. This allowed the authors to define collective memory as an essential feature of a social group. The study describes the phenomenon of ‘generational sensitivity’ that manifests itself as hypersensitivity (impressionability) toward past and current events in representatives of different social generational groups.
References
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Assmann A. The new discontent with memorial culture (Russ. ed.: Assman A. Novoe nedovol'stvo memorial'noi kul'turoi. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2016. 232 p.).
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Gorenshtein N. I. Perception of Holocaust events by modern day youth. Rossiiskii psikhologicheskii zhurnal – Russian Psychological Journal, 2016, V. 13, no. 1, pp. 191–199 (in Russian).
Evans-Campbell T. Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska communities: A multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2008, V. 23, Issue 3, pp. 316–338. DOI: 10.1177/0886260507312290
Brown N. R., Lee P. J., Krslak М., Conrad F. G., Hansen T. G. B., Havelka J., Reddon J. R. Living in History. How war, terrorism, and natural disaster affect the organization of autobiographical memory. Рsychological Sciencе, 2009, V. 20, Issue 4, pp. 399–405. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02307.x
Peetz J., Gunn G. R., Wilson A. E. Crimes of the past: Defensive temporal distancing in the face of past in-group wrongdoing. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2010, V. 36, Issue 5, pp. 598–611. DOI: 10.1177/0146167210364850
Rimé B., Bouchat P., Klein O., Licata L. When collective memories of victimhood fade: Generational evolution of intergroup attitudes and political aspirations in Belgium. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2015, V. 45, Issue 4, pp. 515–532. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2104
Gongaware T. B. Collective memories and collective identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 2003, V. 32, Issue 5, pp. 483–520. DOI: 10.1177/0891241603255674
Sahdra B., Ross M. Group identification and historical memory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2007, V. 33, Issue 3, pp. 384–395. DOI: 10.1177/0146167206296103
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Halbwachs M. The social frameworks of memory (Russ. ed.: Khal'bvaks M. Sotsial'nye ramki pamyati. Moscow, Novoe izdatel'stvo Publ., 2007. 348 p.).
Weldon M. S., Bellinger K. D. Collective memory: Collaborative and individual processes in remembering. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997, V. 23 (5), pp. 1160–1175. DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.23.5.1160
Janssen S. M. J., Murre J. M. J. Reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory: Unexplained by novelty, emotionality, valence, or importance of personal events. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2008, V. 61, Issue 12, pp. 1847–1860. DOI: 10.1080/17470210701774242
Nurkova V. V. History as personal experience. Istoricheskaya psikhologiya i sotsiologiya istorii – Historical Psychology & Sociology, 2009, V. 2, no. 1, pp. 5–27 (in Russian).
Halbwachs M. Collective and historical memory. Neprikosnovennyi zapas, 2005, V. 40–41, no. 2–3 (in Russian). Available at: http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2005/2/ha2.html (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Brown N. R., Lee P. J. Public events and the organization of autobiographical memory: An overview of the living-in-history project. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 2010, V. 2, Issue 2, pp. 133–149. DOI: 10.1080/19434471003597431
Svob С., Brown N. R. Intergenerational transmission of the reminiscence bump and biographical conflict knowledge. Psychological Science, 2012, V. 23, Issue 11, pp. 1404–1409. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612445316
Emelyanova T. P., Pattison A. S. Peculiarities of social representations of Russians in Czechs and Americans. Psychological Studies, 2010, no. 5 (13) (in Russian). Available at: http://psystudy.ru/num/2010n5-13/379-emelyanova-pattison13 (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Malysheva N. G., Stefanenko T. G., Tikhomandritskaya O. A. Image of Russia in the multipolar world: Cross-cultural analysis. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya – Moscow University Psychology Bulletin. Series 14. Psychology, 2012, no. 1, pp. 61–73 (in Russian).
Martsinkovskaya T. D. (ed.) Vozrastnaya psikhologiya [Age psychology]. Moscow, Akademiya Publ., 2014. 336 p.
Pishchik V. I. Generations: Socio-psychological analysis of mentality. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo – Social Psychology and Society, 2011, no. 2, pp. 80–88 (in Russian).
Shestopal E. B. Political socialization and resocialization in modern Russia. Politiya: Analiz. Khronika. Prognoz – Polity: Analysis. Chronicle. Forecast, 2005, no. 4 (in Russian) Available at: http://politeia.ru/content/arhiv-zhurnala/4-2005/ (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Trubina E. Learning to remember: Vectors of memory studies. In: V. N. Yarskaya, E. R. Yarskaya-Smirnova (eds.) Vlast' vremeni: sotsial'nye granitsy pamyati [The power of time: Social boundaries of memory]. Moscow, Variant Publ., 2011, pp. 25–44. Available at: https://www.hse.ru/pubs/share/direct/document/69748208 (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Nora P. Places of memory. In: Frantsiya-pamyat' [France–Memory]. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Publ., 1999, pp. 17–50.
Savel'eva I. M., Poletaev A. V. Historical memory: On the boundaries of the concept. In: Fenomen proshlogo [Phenomenon of the past]. Moscow, Higher School of Economics Publ., 2005, pp. 170–220.
Zerubavel E. Dynamics of collective memory. In: Imperiya i natsiya v zerkale istoricheskoi pamyati: sbornik statei [Empire and nation in the mirror of historical memory]. Moscow, Novoe izdatel'stvo Publ., 2011, pp. 10–29.
Olik D. Figurations of memory: a process-relational methodology illustrated on the German case. Sotsiologicheskoe obozrenie – Sociological Review, 2012, V. 11, no. 1, pp. 40–74. (in Russian). Available at: https://sociologica.hse.ru/data/2012/06/05/1252356367/11_1_03.pdf (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Yarskaya V. Time inversion as a mechanism of memory in the context of culture. In: V. N. Yarskaya, E. R. Yarskaya-Smirnova (eds.) Vlast' vremeni: sotsial'nye granitsy pamyati [The power of time: Social boundaries of memory]. Moscow, Variant Publ., 2011, pp. 11–24. Available at: https://www.hse.ru/pubs/share/direct/document/69748208 (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Assman J. Cultural memory and early civilization: Writing, remembrance, and political imagination. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011. 332 p. (Russ. ed.: Assman Ya. Kul'turnaya pamyat'. Pis'mo, pamyat' o proshlom i politicheskaya identichnost' v vysokikh kul'turakh drevnosti. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoi kul'tury Publ., 2004. 368 p.).
Ricoeur P. Memory, history, forgetting. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2004 (Russ. ed.: Riker P. Pamyat', istoriya, zabvenie. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo gumanitarnoi literatury Publ., 2004. 728 p.).
Assmann A. The new discontent with memorial culture (Russ. ed.: Assman A. Novoe nedovol'stvo memorial'noi kul'turoi. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2016. 232 p.).
Middleton D., Brown S. D. Issues in the socio-cultural study of memory. In: The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 661–677. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511611162.036
Hirst W., Manier D. Towards a psychology of collective memory. Memory, 2008, V. 16, Issue 3, pp. 183–200. DOI: 10.1080/09658210701811912
Repina L. P. Memory and historiography. In: Repina L. P. (ed.) Istoriya i pamyat': Istoricheskaya kul'tura Evropy do nachala Novogo vremeni [History and memory: Historical culture of Europe before the modern age]. Moscow, Krug" Publ., 2006, pp. 19–47.
Lubbe G. Historical identity. Voprosy filosofii, 1994, no. 4, pp. 108–113 (in Russian).
Emel'yanova T. P. Konstruirovanie sotsial'nykh predstavlenii v usloviyakh transformatsii rossiiskogo obshchestva [Constructing social representations in the conditions of transformation of Russian society]. Moscow, Institute of Psychology RAS Publ., 2006. 400 p.
Emel'yanova T. P. Konstruirovanie sotsial'nykh predstavlenii v usloviyakh transformatsii rossiiskogo obshchestva [Social representations: History, theory and empirical research]. Moscow, Institute of Psychology RAS Publ., 2016. 476 p.
Kuznetsova A. V. Collective memories of political power in various historical periods in representatives of different social groups of Russians. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo – Social Psychology and Society, 2013, no. 3, pp. 102–115 (in Russian).
Petrenko E., Kozhevina E., Kaplun V. Russia: The end of the 20th century: Representations of our contemporaries. In: V. N. Yarskaya, E. R. Yarskaya-Smirnova (eds.) Vlast' vremeni: sotsial'nye granitsy pamyati [The power of time: Social boundaries of memory]. Moscow, Variant Publ., 2011, pp. 11–24. Available at: https://www.hse.ru/pubs/share/direct/document/69748208 (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Dontsov A. I., Goncharova V. A. The Holocaust as a phenomenon of social memory. Vek tolerantnosti: nauchno-publitsisticheskii vestnik – Age of Tolerance: Scientific-Publicistic Bulletin, 2005, no. 1–2, pp. 55–61 (in Russian).
Gorenshtein N. I. Perception of Holocaust events by modern day youth. Rossiiskii psikhologicheskii zhurnal – Russian Psychological Journal, 2016, V. 13, no. 1, pp. 191–199 (in Russian).
Evans-Campbell T. Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska communities: A multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2008, V. 23, Issue 3, pp. 316–338. DOI: 10.1177/0886260507312290
Brown N. R., Lee P. J., Krslak М., Conrad F. G., Hansen T. G. B., Havelka J., Reddon J. R. Living in History. How war, terrorism, and natural disaster affect the organization of autobiographical memory. Рsychological Sciencе, 2009, V. 20, Issue 4, pp. 399–405. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02307.x
Peetz J., Gunn G. R., Wilson A. E. Crimes of the past: Defensive temporal distancing in the face of past in-group wrongdoing. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2010, V. 36, Issue 5, pp. 598–611. DOI: 10.1177/0146167210364850
Rimé B., Bouchat P., Klein O., Licata L. When collective memories of victimhood fade: Generational evolution of intergroup attitudes and political aspirations in Belgium. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2015, V. 45, Issue 4, pp. 515–532. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2104
Gongaware T. B. Collective memories and collective identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 2003, V. 32, Issue 5, pp. 483–520. DOI: 10.1177/0891241603255674
Sahdra B., Ross M. Group identification and historical memory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2007, V. 33, Issue 3, pp. 384–395. DOI: 10.1177/0146167206296103
Rotella K. N., Richeson J. A. Motivated to “forget”: The effects of in-group wrongdoing on memory and collective guilt. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2013, V. 4, Issue 6, pp. 730–737. DOI: 10.1177/1948550613482986
Halbwachs M. The social frameworks of memory (Russ. ed.: Khal'bvaks M. Sotsial'nye ramki pamyati. Moscow, Novoe izdatel'stvo Publ., 2007. 348 p.).
Weldon M. S., Bellinger K. D. Collective memory: Collaborative and individual processes in remembering. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997, V. 23 (5), pp. 1160–1175. DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.23.5.1160
Janssen S. M. J., Murre J. M. J. Reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory: Unexplained by novelty, emotionality, valence, or importance of personal events. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2008, V. 61, Issue 12, pp. 1847–1860. DOI: 10.1080/17470210701774242
Nurkova V. V. History as personal experience. Istoricheskaya psikhologiya i sotsiologiya istorii – Historical Psychology & Sociology, 2009, V. 2, no. 1, pp. 5–27 (in Russian).
Halbwachs M. Collective and historical memory. Neprikosnovennyi zapas, 2005, V. 40–41, no. 2–3 (in Russian). Available at: http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2005/2/ha2.html (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Brown N. R., Lee P. J. Public events and the organization of autobiographical memory: An overview of the living-in-history project. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 2010, V. 2, Issue 2, pp. 133–149. DOI: 10.1080/19434471003597431
Svob С., Brown N. R. Intergenerational transmission of the reminiscence bump and biographical conflict knowledge. Psychological Science, 2012, V. 23, Issue 11, pp. 1404–1409. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612445316
Emelyanova T. P., Pattison A. S. Peculiarities of social representations of Russians in Czechs and Americans. Psychological Studies, 2010, no. 5 (13) (in Russian). Available at: http://psystudy.ru/num/2010n5-13/379-emelyanova-pattison13 (Accessed 14 August 2018).
Malysheva N. G., Stefanenko T. G., Tikhomandritskaya O. A. Image of Russia in the multipolar world: Cross-cultural analysis. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya – Moscow University Psychology Bulletin. Series 14. Psychology, 2012, no. 1, pp. 61–73 (in Russian).
Martsinkovskaya T. D. (ed.) Vozrastnaya psikhologiya [Age psychology]. Moscow, Akademiya Publ., 2014. 336 p.
Pishchik V. I. Generations: Socio-psychological analysis of mentality. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo – Social Psychology and Society, 2011, no. 2, pp. 80–88 (in Russian).
Shestopal E. B. Political socialization and resocialization in modern Russia. Politiya: Analiz. Khronika. Prognoz – Polity: Analysis. Chronicle. Forecast, 2005, no. 4 (in Russian) Available at: http://politeia.ru/content/arhiv-zhurnala/4-2005/ (Accessed 14 August 2018).