Sociology of Memory: Papers from the Spectrum
Editor: Noel Packard
Date Of Publication: Mar 2009
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-0199-7
Isbn: 1-4438-0199-2
These papers advance sociological discourse beyond the classical “collective memory” model, into critical terrain of overlapping and contested relationships between personal, private, public, or commodity memory Since memory ranges from a personal memory, to a history book, to a monument, to the memory inside a personal computer, or inside a person’s body, to the photos stored in cell phones (at home, on the streets, in war and elsewhere), to massive data-mining operations by corporations, to government-funded DNA banks, or to continuous satellite surveillance photos, sociological questions arise regarding who “owns” what kind of memory, and for what social or private purposes? These papers present simultaneously forward–thinking, backward–reflecting, and historically contextualized, theoretical, conceptual and applied models with which to study the sociological ramifications of a society increasingly dependent on automated and banked electronic and biological memory for economic, legal, governmental, law–enforcement, agribusiness and medical purposes, as well as for the social “re”construction of society, the preservation of historical and tourist sites, knowledge production and ultimately, human re–production.The models and theoretical work presented in these papers revisit and expand upon work of “cannon” sociologists: Durkheim, Halbwachs, Marx, Addams, Mead and Weber. Revisiting classical sociologists’ work regarding collective memory, personal memory and narrative, provides a way to compare and contrast how sociologists have approached the study of memory. Provocative insights into theoretical, methodological and political differences between early American and European sociological approaches to the study of memory are considered. Contemporary theoretical work by Foucault, Bourdieu, Berger, Lowenthal, Anderson, Misztal, Nora, Olick, Zerbavel, Alexander, Lifton, Prager, Ricoeur, Schudson, Schwartz, Zerubavel, Elias, Luhmann, Deegan, Habermas and others, are incorporated into and evoked, in these research papers.

Noel Packard has an MA in Sociology from The New School, New York; a Master of Public Administration from California State University East Bay, Hayward, California, and a BA in Economics from California State University Fresno. She organizes the “Sociology of Memory: New Conceptualizations of Memory; Personal or Commodity, Public or Private?” conference session for the Pacific Sociological Association annual meetings. She guest edited the “Sociology of Memory” theme issue for American Behavioral Scientist (Sage 2005) and has authored articles for Humanity and Society and The Journal of Intergroup Relations.

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