View source for Collective consciousness

{{Short description|Shared beliefs and ideas in society}}
{{Distinguish|Social consciousness}}
{{For|the related philosophical term|Higher consciousness}}
{{multiple|
{{Essay-like|date=April 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2023}}
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'''Collective consciousness''', '''collective conscience''',  or '''collective conscious''' ({{lang-fr|'''conscience collective'''}}) is the set of shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society.<ref name="dict">''Collins Dictionary of Sociology'', p93.</ref> In general, it does not refer to the specifically moral conscience,  but to a shared understanding of social norms.<ref>Thomas E. Wren, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QttlGM7NQx0C&q=%22Collective+consciousness%22 Conceptions of Culture: What Multicultural Educators Need to Know]'', p. 64</ref>

The modern concept of what can be considered collective consciousness includes [[Solidarity (sociology)|solidarity]] attitudes, [[meme]]s, extreme behaviors like [[group-think]] and [[herd behavior]], and collectively shared experiences during collective rituals, dance parties,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Combs, A., & Krippner, S.|year=2008|title=Collective consciousness and the social brain|journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies|volume=15|pages=264–276}}</ref> and the discarnate entities which can be experienced from psychedelic use.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Luke|first=David|date=2011|title=Discarnate entities and dimethyltryptamine (DMT): Psychopharmacology, phenomenology and ontology|url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-04822-003|journal=Journal of the Society for Psychical Research|volume=75(902[1])[1]|pages=26–42}}</ref> Rather than existing as separate individuals, people come together as dynamic groups to share resources and knowledge. It has also developed as a way of describing how an entire community comes together to share similar values. This has also been termed "hive mind", "[[Collective intelligence|group mind]]", "mass mind", and "social mind".<ref>John D. Greenwood ''The Disappearance of the Social in American Social Psychology'' 2004, p. 110</ref>

==Historical use of collective consciousness==
The term was introduced by the French [[sociology|sociologist]] [[Émile Durkheim]] in his ''[[The Division of Labour in Society]]'' in 1893. The French word ''conscience'' generally means "conscience", "consciousness", "awareness",<ref>''Collins French-English Dictionary'' [http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/conscience ''s.v.'']</ref> or "perception".<ref>{{cite book|first = Shaun|last= Best|title = A Beginner's Guide to Social Theory|page = 28|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Lq-cyEX3zHwC&pg=PA28|publisher =SAGE Publications|date = 2002|isbn = 9781848608634}}</ref> Given the multiplicity of definitions, translators of Durkheim disagree on which is most appropriate, or whether the translation should depend on the context.  Some prefer to treat the word 'conscience' as an untranslatable foreign word or technical term, without its normal English meaning.<ref>Simpson, George (Trans.) in Durkheim, Emile "The Division of Labour in Society" The Free Press, New York, 1993. pp. ix</ref> As for "collective", Durkheim makes clear that he is not [[Reification (fallacy)|reifying]] or [[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostasizing]] this concept; for him, it is "collective" simply in the sense that it is common to many individuals;<ref>Warren Schmaus, ''Durkheim's Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Knowledge: Creating an Intellectual Niche'', 1994, {{ISBN|0226742512}}, p. 50-51</ref> ''cf.'' [[social fact]].

[[Scipio Sighele]] published ‘La Foule Criminele’ one year before Durkheim, in which he describes emergent characteristics of crowds that don’t appear in the individuals that form the crowd. He doesn’t call this collective consciousness, but ‘âme de la foule’ (soul of the crowd).<ref>
https://archive.org/details/lafoulecriminel01sighgoog/page/n45/mode/2up?ref=ol Scipio Sighele - La Foule Criminelle, page 32 </ref> This term returns in [[Sigmund Freud]]’s book about mass psychology and essentially overlaps with Durkheims concept of collective consciousness.

==Theories of collective consciousness==
===Durkheim===
Durkheim used the term in his books ''[[The Division of Labour in Society]]'' (1893), ''[[The Rules of the Sociological Method]]'' (1895), ''[[Suicide (Durkheim book)|Suicide]]'' (1897), and ''[[The Elementary Forms of Religious Life]]'' (1912). In ''The Division of Labour'', Durkheim argued that in traditional/primitive societies (those based around clan, family or tribal relationships), [[totem]]ic religion played an important role in uniting members through the creation of a common consciousness. In societies of this type, the contents of an individual's consciousness are largely shared in common with all other members of their society, creating a [[solidarity (sociology)|mechanical solidarity]] through mutual likeness.

{{Blockquote|The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life of its own. It can be termed the collective or common consciousness.|[[Émile Durkheim]]<ref name="AllanAllan2005-108">{{cite book|author1=Kenneth Allan|author2=Kenneth D. Allan|title=Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World|date=2 November 2005|publisher=Pine Forge Press|isbn=978-1-4129-0572-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/explorationsincl00alla/page/108 108]|url=https://archive.org/details/explorationsincl00alla/page/108}}</ref> }}

In ''Suicide'', Durkheim developed the concept of [[anomie]] to refer to the social rather than individual causes of suicide. This relates to the concept of collective consciousness, as if there is a lack of integration or solidarity in society then suicide rates will be higher.<ref>Durkheim, E. Suicide, 1897.</ref>

===Gramsci===
[[Antonio Gramsci]] states, “A collective consciousness, which is to say a living organism, is formed only after the unification of the multiplicity through friction on the part of the individuals; nor can one say that ‘silence’ is not a multiplicity.”<ref>Filippini, Michelle. 2017. “Collective Organisms.” Pp. 58-59 in Using Gramsci. London: Pluto Press. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1h64kxd.9.</ref> A form of collective consciousness can be formed from Gramsci's conception that the presence of a [[hegemony]] can mobilize the collective consciousness of those [[oppressed]] by the ruling ideas of [[society]], or the ruling hegemony. Collective consciousness can refer to a [[multitude]] of different individual forms of consciousness coalescing into a greater whole. In Gramsci's view, a unified whole is composed of [[solidarity]] among its different constituent parts, and therefore, this whole cannot be uniformly the same. The unified whole can embrace different forms of consciousness (or individual experiences of social reality), which coexist to reflect the different experiences of the [[marginalized]] peoples in a given society. This agrees with Gramsci's theory of Marxism and [[class struggle]] applied to cultural contexts. [[Marxist cultural analysis#Marxism applied to cultural goals|Cultural Marxism]] (as distinguished from the right-wing use of the term) embodies the concept of collective consciousness. It incorporates [[social movements]] that are based on some sort of collective identity; these identities can include, for instance, [[gender]], [[sexual orientation]], [[Race (human categorization)|race]], and [[Aptitude|ability]], and can be incorporated by collective-based movements into a broader historical material analysis of class struggle.

According to Michelle Filippini, “The nature and workings of collective organisms – not only parties, but also trade unions, associations and intermediate bodies in general – represent a specific sphere of reflection in the Prison Notebooks, particularly in regard to the new relationship between State and society that in Gramsci's view emerged during the age of mass politics.”<ref>Filippini, Michelle. 2017. “Collective Organisms.” Pp. 43 in Using Gramsci. London: Pluto Press. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1h64kxd.9.</ref> Collective organisms can express collective consciousness. Whether this form of expression finds itself in the realm of the state or the realm of society is up to the direction that the subjects take in expressing their collective consciousness. In Gramsci's [[Prison Notebooks]], the ongoing conflict between [[civil society]], the [[bureaucracy]], and the state necessitates the emergence of a collective consciousness that can often act as an intermediary between these different realms. The public organizations of protest, such as [[labor unions]] and anti-war organizations, are vehicles that can unite multiple types of collective consciousness. Although identity-based movements are necessary for the progress of [[democracy]] and can generate collective consciousness, they cannot completely do so without a unifying framework. This is why [[anti-war]] and [[labor movements]] provide an avenue that has united various social movements under the banner of a multiple collective consciousness. This is also why future social movements need to have an [[ethos]] of collective consciousness if they are to succeed in the long-term.

===Zukerfield===
Zukerfield states that “The different disciplines that have studied knowledge share an understanding of it as a product of human subjects – individual, collective, etc.”<ref name = zukerfield31>{{cite book|last = Zukerfield|first= M.|year=2017|chapter =How to Know Knowledge? Introducing Cognitive Materialism |title =Knowledge in the Age of Digital Capitalism: An Introduction to Cognitive Materialism|volume= 2|pages= 31–52|location = London |publisher = University of Westminster Press|jstor=j.ctv6zd9v0.6|isbn= 9781911534242}}</ref> [[Knowledge]] in a sociological sense is derived from social conditions and [[social realities]]. Collective consciousness also reflects social realities, and sociological knowledge can be gained through the adoption of a collective consciousness. Many different disciplines such as [[philosophy]] and [[literature]] examine collective consciousness from different lenses. These different disciplines reach a similar understanding of a collective consciousness despite their different approaches to the subject. The inherent humanness in the idea of collective consciousness refers to a shared way of thinking among human beings in the pursuit of knowledge.

Collective consciousness can provide an understanding of the relationship between [[self]] and society.  As Zukerfeld states, “Even though it impels us, as a first customary gesture, to analyse the subjective (such as individual consciousness) or intersubjective bearers (such as the values of a given society), in other words those which Marxism and sociology examine, now we can approach them in an entirely different light.”<ref>{{cite book|last =Zukerfeld|first = M.|date =2017|chapter =How to Know Knowledge? Introducing Cognitive Materialism|page = 36|title = Knowledge in the Age of Digital Capitalism: An Introduction to Cognitive Materialism|volume = 2|location = London|publisher = University of Westminster Press.|jstor =j.ctv6zd9v0.6|isbn = 9781911534242}}</ref> “Cognitive materialism”<ref name = zukerfield31/> is presented in the work by Zukerfeld as a sort of ‘third way’ between sociological knowledge and Marxism. Cognitive materialism is based on a kind of collective consciousness of the [[mind]]. This consciousness can be used, with cognitive materialism as a guiding force, by human beings in order to critically analyze society and social conditions.

==Collective consciousness in society==
Society is made up of various collective groups, such as the family, community, organizations, regions, nations which as Burns and Egdahl state "''can be considered to possess agential capabilities'': to think, judge, decide, act, reform; to conceptualize self and others as well as self's actions and interactions; and to reflect.".<ref>Burns, T.R. Engdahl, E. (1998) The Social Construction of Consciousness. Part 1: Collective Consciousness and its Socio-Cultural Foundations, ''[[Journal of Consciousness Studies]]'', 5 (1) p 72.</ref> It is suggested that these different national behaviors vary according to the different collective consciousness between nations. This illustrates that differences in collective consciousness can have practical significance.

According to a theory, the character of collective consciousness depends on the type of mnemonic encoding used within a group (Tsoukalas, 2007). The specific type of encoding used has a predictable influence on the group's behavior and collective ideology. Informal groups, that meet infrequently and spontaneously, have a tendency to represent significant aspects of their community as episodic memories. This usually leads to strong social cohesion and solidarity, an indulgent atmosphere, an exclusive ethos and a restriction of social networks. Formal groups, that have scheduled and anonymous meetings, tend to represent significant aspects of their community as semantic memories which usually leads to weak social cohesion and solidarity, a more moderate atmosphere, an inclusive ethos and an expansion of social networks.<ref name="Tsoukalas´2007">Tsoukalas, I. (2007). Exploring the Microfoundations of Group Consciousness. ''[[Culture and Psychology]]'', 13(1), 39-81.</ref>

===Literary and oral tradition===
In a case study of a Serbian folk story, Wolfgang Ernst examines collective consciousness in terms of forms of [[Media (communication)|media]], specifically collective oral and literary traditions. "Current discourse analysis drifts away from the 'culturalist turn' of the last two or three decades and its concern with individual and collective memory as an extended target of historical research".<ref>{{cite book|last = Ernst |first = Wolfgang|date = 2017|chapter = ‘Electrified Voices’: Non-Human Agencies of Socio-Cultural Memory"|title =Memory in Motion|pages = 41–60|editor1-first= Ina|editor1-last= Blom|editor2-first= Trond|editor2-last= Lundemo|editor3-first= Eivind|editor3-last = Røssaak|publisher = Amsterdam University Press| doi=10.2307/j.ctt1jd94f0.5 |jstor =j.ctt1jd94f0.5|isbn = 9789462982147}}</ref> There is still a collective consciousness present in terms of the shared appreciation of [[folk stories]] and [[oral traditions]]. Folk stories enable the subject and the audiences to come together around a common experience and a shared heritage. In the case of the Serbian folk “gusle”,<ref>{{cite book|last = Ernst |first = Wolfgang|date = 2017|chapter = ‘Electrified Voices’: Non-Human Agencies of Socio-Cultural Memory"|page = 45 |title =Memory in Motion|editor1-first= Ina|editor1-last= Blom|editor2-first= Trond|editor2-last= Lundemo|editor3-first= Eivind|editor3-last = Røssaak|publisher = Amsterdam University Press| doi=10.2307/j.ctt1jd94f0.5 |jstor =j.ctt1jd94f0.5|isbn = 9789462982147}}</ref> the Serbian people take pride in this musical instrument of epic poetry and oral tradition and play it at social gatherings. Expressions of [[art]] and [[culture]] are expressions of a collective consciousness or expressions of multiple social realities.

===Sporting events===
Edmans, Garcia, and Norlia examined national sporting defeats and correlated them with decreases in the value of stocks.  They examined 1,162 football matches in thirty-nine countries and discovered that stock markets of those countries dropped on average forty-nine points after being eliminated from the [[FIFA World Cup|World Cup]], and thirty-one points after being eliminated in other tournaments.<ref>Edmans, A. García, D. Norli, O. 2007 Sports Sentiment and Stock Returns. ''[[Journal of Finance]]'' 62 (4) pp. 1967-1998.</ref> Edmans, Garcia, and Norli found similar but smaller effects with international [[cricket]], [[rugby football|rugby]], [[ice hockey]], and [[basketball]] games.

== See also ==
{{Portal |Society}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Abilene paradox]]
* [[Agenda 21]]
* [[Anonymous (group)]]
* [[Antonio Gramsci]]
* [[Borg (Star Trek)#Borg Collective|Borg Collective]]
* [[Collective effervescence]]
* [[Collective identity]]
* [[Collective intelligence]]
* [[Collective memory]]
* [[Collective unconscious]]
* [[Communal reinforcement]]
* [[Crowd psychology]]
* [[Deep social mind]]
* [[Dharma|Práńa Dharma]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ampsnews.org/portfolio/prana-dharma/|title=Práńa Dharma-The Sine Qua Non of Human Existence|date=16 February 1967|location=[[Ranchi]], India|first1=Prabhat Ranjan|last1=Sarkar|author-link=Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar|work=[[PROUT]] in a Nutshell Part 6|publisher=Ánanda Márga Publications|access-date=2015-03-02|archive-date=2015-04-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403105331/http://ampsnews.org/portfolio/prana-dharma/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Egregor]] 
* [[Global brain]]
* [[Global goals]]
* [[Group behaviour]]
* [[Group mind (science fiction)|Group mind]]
* [[Groupthink]]
* [[Higher consciousness]]
* [[Human spirit]]
* [[Infodemic]]
* [[Materialism]]
* [[Noosphere]]
* [[Paradigm]]
* [[Paradigm shift]]
* [[Peer pressure]]
* [[Presence (telepresence)]]
* [[Reality tunnel]]
* [[Schema (psychology)]]
* [[Shared intentionality]]
* [[Social justice]]
* [[Social representation]]
* [[Superorganism]]
* [[Unanimism]]
* [[United Nations]]
* [[Zeitgeist]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
'''Works by Durkheim'''
* ''[[The Division of Labour in Society]]'' (1893)
* ''[[The Rules of the Sociological Method]]'' (1895)
* ''[[Suicide (Durkheim book)|Suicide]]'' (1897)
* ''[[The Elementary Forms of Religious Life]]'' (1912)

'''Works by others'''
* [[Gad Barzilai]], ''Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities'' University of Michigan Press, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-472-03079-8}}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Ernst
  | first1 = Wolfgang
  |editor= Ina Blom |editor2=Trond Lundemo |editor3=Eivind Røssaak
  | title = Memory in Motion
  | publisher = [[Amsterdam University Press]]
  | year = 2017
  | location = Amsterdam
  | pages = 41–59 }}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Filippini
  | first1 = Michelle
  | title = Using Gramsci
  | publisher = [[Pluto Press]]
  | year = 2017
  | location = London
  | pages = 43–64 }}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Zukerfeld
  | first1 = Mariano
  | title = Knowledge in the Age of Digital Capitalism: An Introduction to Cognitive Materialism
  | publisher = [[University of Westminster Press]]
  | year = 2017
  | location = London
  | pages = 32–51 }}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Jary
  | first1 = David
  | author2 = Julia Jary
  | title = Collins Dictionary of Sociology
  | publisher = [[HarperCollins]]
  | year = 1991
  | location = Glasgow
  | url = https://archive.org/details/collinsdictionar0000jary/page/774
  | isbn = 978-0-00-470804-1
  | page = [https://archive.org/details/collinsdictionar0000jary/page/774 774]
  }}
* {{cite encyclopedia
  | editor-last1 = Williams
  | editor-first1 = Swatos 
  | title = Émile Durkheim
  | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Religion and Society
  | publisher = Altamira Press
  | year = 1998
  | url = http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/durkheim.htm
  | format = Web and Print
  | access-date = 2007-02-03 }}
* {{cite news
  | last1 = Lloyd
  | first1 = Annemaree
  | title = Guarding Against Collective Amnesia? Making Significance Problematic: An Exploration of Issues
  | work = Library Trends
  | year = 2007
  | url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Guarding+against+collective+amnesia%3F+Making+significance+problematic:...-a0170113891
  | format = Web and Print
  | access-date = 2008-04-25
  | archive-date = 2011-05-20
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110520134700/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Guarding+against+collective+amnesia%3F+Making+significance+problematic:...-a0170113891
  | url-status = dead
  }}

{{Émile Durkheim}}
{{World view}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Collective Consciousness}}
[[Category:Collective intelligence]]
[[Category:Consciousness]]
[[Category:Crowd psychology]]
[[Category:Émile Durkheim]]
[[Category:Public opinion]]
[[Category:Sociological terminology]]

[[de:Kollektiv#Kollektivbewusstsein]]