Collective future thought: Concept, function, and implications for collective memory studies

Abstract

This article introduces and develops the concept of “collective future thought” and its implications for the interdisciplinary field of (collective) memory studies. The study of collective memory has much to gain from the complexity that interjecting future thought introduces into the various processes that are the foci of the field. This article defines the concept: the act of imagining an event that has yet to transpire on behalf of, or by, a group. Second, it proposes a more complex relation between the past, present, and future than is regularly invoked in the study of collective memory. Namely, we posit that collective future thought is simultaneously dependent on the past and itself acts as a catalyst for the (re)construction of the past. Finally, we consider the implications of the function of collective future thought for the study of collective memory and identify avenues for future interdisciplinary research.