Social memory studies

Abstract

I would now like to contextualize OMS in a broader stream of interdisciplinary research on the conceptualization of memory as a social phenomenon. First, I want to take a closer look at the different aspects of social memory and shed light on the usage of this interdisciplinary concept. In this section I will start with the different perspectives of social memory studies, highlighting the different aspects and research questions related to the concept of social memory. Second, I will argue that the sociological view of social memory seems to be the most important perspective in organization studies and I will then introduce the most cited concepts of social memory; namely, Maurice Halbwach’s concept (1925) of collective memory and Jan Assmann’s notion (1988) of cultural memory. Third, I will introduce Niklas Luhmann’s notion of memory as a function and an alternative concept, on which this work will focus.