Skarby pamięci. Socjologiczna analiza fotografii rodzinnej
Treasures of the memory - sociological analysis of the family photography

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to present the results of the research on the meaning of the family photography in the contemporary society. I analyze the family photography as a carrier of memory manifesting itself in an interpretative reconstruction of the past in the present through its idealization and mystification. The amateur photography blends with the broader process of the visualization of the contemporary culture, and the transformations that take place within the intensify the consumer tenor of the phenomenon. The development of the IT has made the new forms of gathering, storing and sharing photos available to people. The question arises if the meaning of these activities remains the same as in case of the analogue photos. I refer basically to two theories – Maurice Halbwachs' and Erving Goffman's and on this ground I approach the family albums as the selected and idealized set of family representations subjected to the creative reconstruction in the present, which becomes an axis of the family memory. Besides, the article touches upon the ontological matter of the photography alone, as well as its usefulness in the contemporary reflection of the sociologists.

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