Alexander, Jeffrey. “Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma”

Jeffrey Alexander sets out a theory of cultural trauma in the introduction to this collection of essays. He explains that two common strands of thinking about trauma – Enlightenment and psychoanalytic thinking – originate in lay trauma theory, which both share what Alexander calls the ‘naturalistic fallacy.’ Whereas lay trauma theory holds that events create collective trauma, Alexander’s approach holds that, conversely, events are “not inherently traumatic,” but trauma is “a socially mediated attribution” (8). Alexander sets out the social process of cultural trauma that can recognise collective traumas and explains that, when this process is not carried out fully, collective traumas are neglected. This process consists of the following steps: (i) A claim is made (ii) by a generational, national, or institutional carrier group, (iii) through a speech act to an audience, (iv) through a narrative which sets out the nature of the pain, the nature of the victim, the relation of the trauma victim to the wider audience and the attribution to responsibility, (v) within a religious, aesthetic, legal or scientific arena influenced by mass media &/or state bureaucracy, (vi) through mediation (vii) in order to reconstruct collective identity.

This schematised process is presented as a way to determine why or whether a collective trauma has been recognised by a wider audience. 

The other chapters in the book work with this theory and discuss case studies, such as post-Holocaust German identity (Giesen), the September 11, 2001 attacks (Smelser), African-American identity in the late 19th century and slavery narratives (Eyerman) and trauma in postcommunist East-Central European societies (Sztompka).

The theory of cultural trauma has been critiqued for instance by Wulf Kansteiner, who argues that Alexander and especially also Eyerman do not provide empirical evidence for their argument that cultural traumata result from mediations which cause loss of collective identity.

See:

Kansteiner, Wulf. “Genealogy of a category mistake: a critical intellectual history of the cultural trauma metaphor.” Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice 8, no. 2 (2004): 193-221.

Kansteiner, Wulf, and Harald Weilnböck. 2008. “Against the Concept of Cultural Trauma.” In Media and Cultural Memory, ed. Astrid Erll, 229-240. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Author of this entry: Nynke Hartvelt

Alexander, Jeffrey. 2004. “Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma.” In Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, 1-30. Berkeley: U of California P.