8 - Durkheim's collective representations and their background

Summary

The previous chapter dealt with a change in the study of national character in Britain, a change brought about by the reorganization of social thought which took place in the period 1870–1900 or thereabouts. This was not a revolution, but an acceleration towards a ‘scientific’ – that is, a more systematic, rigorous, comprehensive, and cautious – approach. Among the phenomena accompanying this acceleration were the universal adoption of inductive methods and techniques, at least in principle; the division of labour between social disciplines as well as the separate constitution of each of them, in both scientific and institutional terms; and a systematic and cumulative practice. To list in summary the principal results of social scientific research concerning collective character, one can point to the rise of more cogent and definite forms of environmentalism based on the evolutionary theory; to the establishment of a broader psychological framework, featuring more refined concepts; to the acknowledgement of the changing nature of collective characteristics; to the attention paid to classes and groups irrespective of national boundaries; and to the revision of the stereotype of the Englishman. Behind all this, there lay an awareness of the new mass dimension of social life; a purely individualistic framework began to be deemed insufficient to account for certain peculiarly modern phenomena. In short, as the psychological characteristics of the men in the street assumed ever more importance in all respects, the study of collective attitudes became raised, in the eyes of its protagonists at least, to the level of a true science.