Abstract
Data from two national samples, one of Americans and one of Lithuanians, are generally consistent with the hypothesis that people tend to remember as important those national and world events that they lived through during their own youth, roughly the ages 13 to 25. The American data indicate that in describing such events, people tend to give them autobiographical terms. However, an investigation during the war in the Persian Gulf shows only a weak relation between the ages at which respondents lived through World War II versus the Vietnam War and their preference for one or the other as an analogy for the war with Iraq; this is consistent with the assumption that semantic memories are less closely tied to the life course than are autobiographical memories.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bahrick, H.P. (1984). Semantic memory content in permastore: Fifty years of memory for Spanish learned in school. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113, 1–29.
Brewer, W. F. (1986). What is autobiographical memory. in D. C. Rubin (ed.), Autiobiographical Memory. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 25–49.
Fitzgerald, J. M. (1988). Vivid memories and the reminiscence phenomenon: The role of a self narrative. Human Development, 31, 261–273.
Halbwachs, M. (1950/1980). The Collective Memory. Harper and Row, New York.
Mannheim, K. (1928/1952). The Problem of Generations. In, Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, pp. 276–322.
Ostrom, T. M. (1989). Three Catechisms for Social Memory. In P. R. Soloman, G. R. Goethals, C. M. Kelley, & B. R. Stephens (eds.), Memory: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Springer-Verlag, New York, 201–220.
Rubin, D. C., Wetzler, S. E., & Nebes, R. D. (1986). Autobiographical memory across the lifespan. In D.C. Rubin (ed.), Autobiographical Memory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 202–221.
Schuman, H. & Scott, J. (1987). Problems in the use of survey questions to measure public opinion. Science, 236, 957–959.
Schuman, H., & Scott, J. (1989). Generations and Collective Memories. American Sociological Review, 54, 359–381.
Schuman, H., Cheryl R., & Vladas G. (forthcoming). Collective memories in the United States and Lithuania. In N. Schwartz & S. Sudman (Eds.), Autobiographical memory and the validity of retrospective reports. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Schwartz, B. (1991). Social change and collective memory: The democratization of George Washington. American Sociological Review, 56, 221–236.
Sigel, R.S., & Hoskin, M.B. (1979). Perspectives on adult political socialization. In S.A. Renshon (ed.), Handbook of political socialization. Free Press, New York, 259–93.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schuman, H., Rieger, C. (1992). Collective Memory and Collective Memories. In: Conway, M.A., Rubin, D.C., Spinnler, H., Wagenaar, W.A. (eds) Theoretical Perspectives on Autobiographical Memory. NATO ASI Series, vol 65. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7967-4_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7967-4_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4136-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-7967-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive