War memory, national attachment and generational identity in Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID2399345
AuthorsBob West (0000-0002-0495-8625, corresponding author), Brad West, Haydn Aarons (0000-0003-0460-8729)
Year2016
Volume52
Issue3
Pages586-604
Publication date2016-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1440-7833 • E-ISSN: 1741-2978
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1440783316655000
OpenAlexW2516285013
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited57

In this article we use a module from the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2007 to analyse how particular events in history resonate with Australians. We emphasize three significant findings: (1) evidence of a strong level of attachment to the world wars and an equivalent significance given to the terrorist events of 9/11 and the 2002 Bali bombings, with far less importance given to other event types; (2) a surprisingly weak correlation between the experience of events in adolescence and the assigning of historical significance; (3) indication that both closeness to the nation and a strong sense of worldliness is important in explaining attachment to the past. Overall the data challenge recent theories of postmodern memory and a range of survey results that supports Mannheim's cohort theory. Instead, we point to the resilience of historical events to remain culturally significant, particularly through the emergence of a cosmopolitan collective memory

Aesthetics · Closeness · Collective memory · Identity (music) · Political science · Psychological resilience · Sociology · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Gender Studies · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Social Psychology