Functional memory

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The term functional memory was coined by Jan Assmann and Aleida Assmann . It is based on the definition of cultural memory as social memory that arises not only in, but above all between people (see Maurice Halbwachs ). The image of the past is formed in the present.

In contrast to storage memory , functional memory describes sensibly organized memories that are used by a group, an individual or an institution. To that extent it is "inhabited" and linked to the present. Functional memory is diachronous and comprises only a small part of storage memory. It plays an important role, for example, in the legitimation or delegitimation of rule.

literature

  • Aleida and Jan Assmann: Yesterday in Today. Media and social memory. In: Klaus Merten et al. (Ed.): The Reality of the Media. An introduction to communication science. Opladen 1994.
  • Aleida Assmann: memory spaces. Forms and transformations of cultural memory. Munich 1999.
  • Aleida Assmann: How true are memories? In: Harald Welzer (Ed.): The social memory. History, memory, transmission. Hamburg 2001.