Historical Memory of Military Regime in Three Generations: Factual Contents and Critical Judgements

Abstract

Results from a research on the historical memory of Brazilian Military Regime, in Rio de Janeiro, are presented and discussed. Data were obtained through a questionnaire applied to 201 adult subjects, 207 aged ones, and 434 young ones. Data were analyzed upon the frequencies of distribution of the responses from subjects belonging to the different age groups and, in each one of these, from subjects belonging to ensembles of different scholarship levels and political orientations. Results show that width and precision in remembering the facts and circumstances of the period decrease from aged subjects to adults and from these to youths. Consistency of critical judgements about the Military Regime decreases from young subjects to aged ones and from these to adults. Discussion of results takes into consideration the characteristics of the psychosocial construction processes of historical memory in the three different generational groups.

Keywords

• social memory
• historical memory
• social representations
• military regime
• generations