한국제도·경제학회

The concept of collective memory developed by Maurice Halbwachs is evolving into a research framework that newly understands and analyzes individuals’ collective behavior in cognitive science and research of institutions beyond the realm of sociology. Yet, among researchers, collective memory is still at the level of an analysis framework to understand phenomena, and it has not progressed to the stage of explanatory and predictive models, incapable of dealing with measurable values or quantitative variables of collective memories in groups to study them. Nevertheless, collective memory leaves a wide open room for research in association with Douglas North’s “institutionalism”. This study examines the concept of collective memory of Maurice Halbwachs, with belief as an informal element of institutions, which is significant in North’s concept. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore possibilities of collective memory as an analytical framework of institutional change. This study found that collective memory is sometimes forgotten when it conflicts with groups’ identity or tradition. However, collective memory does not disappear, and the forgotten collective memory is recalled, giving dynamism to institutions and policies. Therefore, institutions and policies can yield successful results if they correspond to the positive collective memory of the participants and policy recipients of such institutions. This study also suggests that political group decision-making, as institutional actors, can ultimately be made in the direction of using or repressing collective memories that define social norms. Lastly, this study suggests that the more diversified and heterogeneous groups are distributed in a society, and the more active communication between individuals within such groups exist, the more unstable the institutional stability will become due to the conflicts and exclusions between the collective memories of the heterogeneous groups.