Coping with Social Change: Processes of Social Memory in the Reconstruction of Identities

This chapter outlines a theoretical framework within which we can study and understand how groups maintain and reconstruct their social memories. In particular, it addresses the question of why certain memories are maintained over time as well as how these may be reconstructed over time. The focus is on the processes involved in the maintenance and reconstruction of those social memories which are used by members of a national or ethnic group, to describe and define the identity of that group. For example the way in which memories of Dunkirk are used as a symbol for the ordinary Englishman’s characteristic of defiance in adversity, reconstructing a defeat as a victory.