Typology of historical memory about the World War II: Methodological aspects of the study (on the example of the RUDN students)

The study of mass consciousness is one of the most pressing sociological issues. Historical memory is a part of mass consciousness, and it is obvious that the historical memory about any event has its specifics in different societies. Today memories about the World War II became an object of manipulation for various political forces that aim at changing public opinion in favor of particular parties, and the youth is especially affected by such influence. The student youth is a reactive social force and can subsequently transfer such influence into actions. Therefore, the study of the international students’ types of historical memory provides a unique opportunity to reveal the global perception of the World War II. The article presents a typology of historical memory based on the classical structure of social attitude as consisting of affective (views on the justice of the war results), cognitive (knowledge of the war milestones) and behavioral components (knowledge and participation in commemorative events, and family stories). There are nine types of historical memory: personal-historical, dispositional, formal-historical, emotional-historical, fragmentary-historical, mythological-historical, subjective-historical, value-historical, ‘lack-of-memory’. The majority of students have an emotional-historical, formal-historical types and ‘lack-of-memory’. Without ‘lacking-memory’ students, the share of which is smaller among Russian students, foreign students have mainly an emotional-historical and formal-historical types of memory, while Russian students rather formal-historical and value-historical types. The article explains the way for identifying types of memory. Thus, it can be useful for methodologists and researchers in sociology of history.