History of mentalities - Philosophical Concept | Alexandria
History of mentalities, also sometimes referred to as the history of mental representations or collective representations, is a field of historical inquiry dedicated to understanding the shared beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotional frameworks that shape the collective thinking and behavior of past societies. More than simply a chronicle of events, it seeks to reconstruct the mental landscape – a world of unspoken assumptions and ingrained habits of thought that dictated how individuals and groups perceived reality.
Though not formally articulated as a distinct field until the 20th century, the seeds of the history of mentalities can arguably be found in earlier intellectual pursuits. One could cite the emerging fields during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to study folklore and collective ideas. However, its definitive establishment is most closely associated with the second generation of the Annales School in France During the mid 20th century, particularly with scholars like Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, who stressed the importance of examining the longue duree ("long term") of historical processes and structures, emphasizing the significance of cultural and mental frameworks over fleeting events. It represents a profound shift away from traditional “history from above,” favoring instead “history from below.”
The field gained substantial traction in the latter half of the 20th century, expanding under the influence of historians like Georges Duby and Jacques Le Goff. They explored areas such as attitudes towards death, conceptions of time and space, the symbolism of rituals, and the meanings embedded in everyday objects. The goal was to access the "unconscious" of societies – the unspoken assumptions that underlay their actions. This approach generated intriguing insights, uncovering how medieval peasants perceived the afterlife or how Renaissance merchants understood concepts like risk and reward.
Today, the history of mentalities continues to exert a significant influence on historical scholarship, inspiring investigations into diverse themes. It intersects with gender studies, postcolonial studies, and cultural history, offering new perspectives on enduring societal dynamics. By refusing to take past beliefs at face value, and instead seeking to understand the deeper psychological landscapes that shaped them, the history of mentalities invites us to confront the enduring power of collective ideas and the often-unconscious forces that shape our understanding of the world. What hidden assumptions continue to shape our own realities?