Main Ideas
Halbwachs' most important contribution to the field of sociology came in his book La Mémoire collective, 1950 (The Collective Memory), in which he advanced the thesis that a society can have a collective memory and that this memory is dependent upon the 'cadre' or framework within which a group is situated in a society. Thus, there is not only an individual memory, but also a group memory that exists outside of and lives beyond the individual. Consequently, an individual's understanding of the past is strongly linked to this group consciousness.
Halbwachs also wrote an important book on suicide, Les Causes du suicide, 1930 (The Causes of Suicide). In this book he followed the footsteps of his mentor Émile Durkheim, and expanded and elaborated upon the former's theories on suicide.
Read more about this topic: Maurice Halbwachs
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