Continuity and Transformation of Collective Memory: A Psychosocial Approach to Historical Narratives

Abstract

This article examines the transmission of historical narratives from a psychosocial perspective, highlighting the central role of collective memory in the construction of social reality. Here, memory is conceptualised as a dynamic process, simultaneously structured by stable elements that ensure identity cohesion as well as reshaped by current social and political contexts. Within this dialectic between continuity and transformation, collective memory—in its completeness and its gaps—emerges as a key object of study for understanding the relationship between history, social representations and memory itself. The rise of nationalism and populism in the 21st century relies on the politicisation of memory, which is increasingly used as a tool of legitimation and narrative reconfiguration. The current ‘post-truth’ era amplifies this phenomenon by replacing historical facts with subjective and often emotional interpretations that reshape national narratives. The opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games serves as an illustrative case: while reaffirming a consensual national narrative, it also included new, less consensual figures, such as the French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, exposing tensions between national identity and diversity. Collective memory thus appears as a crucial field of enquiry for understanding contemporary social transformations, with the contributions of Halbwachs, Bartlett and Moscovici providing a fertile theoretical framework for analysing these dynamics.