How Did Memory Become Social?

Abstract

The article, using the example of the discussion by E. Durkheim and V. Wundt, shows the formation of the idea of social memory and the method of social re­search in relation to collective memory. Such a statement of the problem allows us to trace the formation of the language of describing social phenomena and clarify the difficulties faced by modern memory studies. To solve this problem, at the first step, the author shows how the approbation of a new description lan­guage allowed us to talk about collective memory as a concept independent of psychology. Durkheim defines the sphere of social phenomena as irreducible to the individual and, therefore, pushes biological and psychological explana­tions into the background, and also justifies the independence of the subject of social science research. In the next step, the author describes individual mani­festations of collective memory in Durkheim's works. This raises the question of the role of the State influencing the institutions that ensure the transmission of collective memory. In conclusion, the author analyzes the impact of the memory sociality model proposed through a discussion with Wundt on modern research (weak attention to the ontological foundations of social memory, the ratio of per­sonal and collective memory and etc.).