Overview

When discussing large social trends or experiences, we tend to group people into generations. But what does it mean to be part of a generation, and what gives that group meaning and coherence? It's collective memory, say Amy Corning and Howard Schuman, and in Generations and Collective Memory, they draw on an impressive range of research to show how generations share memories of formative experiences, and how understanding the way those memories form and change can help us understand society and history. Their key finding—built on historical research and interviews in the United States and seven other countries (including China, Japan, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Israel, and Ukraine)—is that our most powerful generational memories are of shared experiences in adolescence and early adulthood, like the 1963 Kennedy assassination for those born in the 1950s or the fall of the Berlin Wall for young people in 1989. But there are exceptions to that rule, and they're significant: Corning and Schuman find that epochal events in a country, like revolutions, override the expected effects of age, affecting citizens of all ages with a similar power and lasting intensity. The picture Corning and Schuman paint of collective memory and its formation is fascinating on its face, but it also offers intriguing new ways to think about the rise and fall of historical reputations and attitudes toward political issues.

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For thirty years Schuman and his colleagues have focused on examining how belonging to a generation affects various forms of shared memory, producing research that has shaped the course of collective memory research. Building on the theories of the important German theorist Karl Mannheim, Corning and Schuman provide a clear, concise, and compelling analysis of how belonging to a generation shapes societal commitments through shared experience and awareness. Generations and Collective Memory is destined to become a touchstone work in the analysis of how history becomes integral to politics and national affiliation. --Gary Alan Fine author of Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial -For thirty years Schuman and his colleagues have focused on examining how belonging to a generation affects various forms of shared memory, producing research that has shaped the course of collective memory research. Building on the theories of the important German theorist Karl Mannheim, Corning and Schuman provide a clear, concise, and compelling analysis of how belonging to a generation shapes societal commitments through shared experience and awareness. Generations and Collective Memory is destined to become a touchstone work in the analysis of how history becomes integral to politics and national affiliation.---Gary Alan Fine -author of Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial - For thirty years Schuman and his colleagues have focused on examining how belonging to a generation affects various forms of shared memory, producing research that has shaped the course of collective memory research. Building on the theories of the important German theorist Karl Mannheim, Corning and Schuman provide a clear, concise, and compelling analysis of how belonging to a generation shapes societal commitments through shared experience and awareness. Generations and Collective Memory is destined to become a touchstone work in the analysis of how history becomes integral to politics and national affiliation. --Gary Alan Fine author of Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial

For thirty years Schuman and his colleagues have focused on examining how belonging to a generation affects various forms of shared memory, producing research that has shaped the course of collective memory research. Building on the theories of the important German theorist Karl Mannheim, Corning and Schuman provide a clear, concise, and compelling analysis of how belonging to a generation shapes societal commitments through shared experience and awareness. Generations and Collective Memory is destined to become a touchstone work in the analysis of how history becomes integral to politics and national affiliation. --Gary Alan Fine author of Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial For thirty years Schuman and his colleagues have focused on examining how belonging to a generation affects various forms of shared memory, producing research that has shaped the course of collective memory research. Building on the theories of the important German theorist Karl Mannheim, Corning and Schuman provide a clear, concise, and compelling analysis of how belonging to a generation shapes societal commitments through shared experience and awareness. Generations and Collective Memory is destined to become a touchstone work in the analysis of how history becomes integral to politics and national affiliation. --Gary Alan Fine author of Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial

Amy Corning is a research investigator at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. She resides in Virginia. Howard Schuman is professor of sociology and research scientist emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, Method and Meaning in Polls and Surveys. He lives in Maine.

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Amy Corning is a research investigator at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. She resides in Virginia. Howard Schuman is professor of sociology and research scientist emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, Method and Meaning in Polls and Surveys. He lives in Maine.

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