What To Know About Collective Consciousness

By Sonya Riley


Collective consciousness, also seen as collective conscience, refers to a specific set of shared moral attitudes, ideas and beliefs. These shared things operate as a unified source within various societies. The term was first coined by a French sociologist by the name of Emile Durkheim in a book he wrote titled Division of Labor in Society, published in 1893.

The French word that is conscience is compared to, and translated as, conscious or conscience in the language of English. It might also be defined as awareness or perception. There are people who use the term conscience as if there is no way to translate this technical term or foreign word in English. Usually it is not related to moral conscience but an understanding that is shared in regards t social norms. With the word collective, Durkheim clearly states no intention of reifying or hypostatizing. This word, to him, refers to a commonality to most, or a social fact.

Durkheim discusses this topic in four of his books, including The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Suicide, Rules of Sociological Method, and The Division of Labor in Society. He maintained that in primitive or traditional groups a totemic religion is present and has a great effect on unity of members. This is done through developing common consciousness. In these kinds of societies, which center around tribal, clan or family relationships, the traits of consciousness of a person are shared among all in a society, creating mechanical solidarity through a shared likeness.

This concept is used outside of the Durkheimian social theory. There are numerous forms of what may be known under this terminology found in modern societies that other sociologists have identified. This term is even used by parapsychologists.

Mary Kelsey is a lecturer of sociology who employed the term in the early 2000s. She used this word to describe people who exist in a social group and are aware of the shared circumstances and traits. Said awareness leads people to act as a community in order to have solidarity. Instead of living as an individual, people join forces to create groups that are dynamic and share resources and knowledge.

A new theory has been introduced that suggests character of consciousness is correlated to the type of mnemonic encoding used in specific groups. For example, cohesive groups with informal structures usually represent major facets of a society as episodic memories. In turn, this creates influence on collective behaviors and ideologies. It usually leads to exclusive ethos, atmosphere that is indulgent and powerful solidarity.

Society consists of numerous collective groups, for example: organizations, regions, nations, family, community. These units have capabilities to act, decide, think, reform, judge, reflect, and conceptualize. Differing behaviors among such groups vary based on the different collective consciousness, which is to say variations in consciousness may have a practical meaning.

Collective consciousness was first introduced in an 1893 book written by Emile Durkheim. He was a French sociologist who used this term to reference shared ideas, beliefs and moral attitudes found among different societies. This particular concept has since been used by psychologists and sociologists in order to describe ideas and theories relative to the modern world.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment