Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity

by Jeffrey C. Alexander, Ron Eyerman, Bernard Giesen

In this collaboratively authored work, five distinguished sociologists develop an ambitious theoretical model of "cultural trauma"―and on this basis build a new understanding of how social groups interact with emotion to create new and binding understandings of social responsibility. Looking at the "meaning making process" as an open-ended social dialogue in which strikingly different social narratives vie for influence, they outline a strongly constructivist approach to trauma and apply this theoretical model in a series of extensive case studies, including the Nazi Holocaust, slavery in the United States, and September 11, 2001.

Genres: Sociology, Cultural, Psychology, Theory, Nonfiction, Social Work

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jeffrey Charles Alexander is an American sociologist, and one of the world's leading social theorists. He is the founding figure in the school of cultural sociology he refers to as the "strong program"

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Particularly helpful discussions of how events or historical periods come to be construed as "traumatic," and what conditions must prevail in order to make a trauma-interpretation possible.

[Brooke Eubanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very relevant. Glad I read.

[Oumeima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a very interesting collection of insightful articles. However, I wished there were articles on Indigenous fiction and Indigenous representation as far as trauma is concerned.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

some dynamite essays

[Vinsonro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating view.

[Katarina]

excellent!