Research Information System
MILLI FOLKLOR, vol.19, no.146, pp.29-40, 2025 (AHCI)
Gerard Bouchard, in his work Social Myth and Collective Imaginaries, systematizes the idea that mythological studies cannot be reduced to studies of primitive societies alone; myths also play a role in analyzing contemporary social order and defining the codes of culture and social life. Drawing on theoretical studies on myths and empirical observations, Bouchard develops a model that sees collective imaginaries as the fundamental driving forces of social dynamics, identifying shared thinking behind persistent beliefs and actions. According to Bouchard, myths are central elements in social and cultural production processes. Bouchard's approach highlights the significant influence of myths not only in popular actions and productions but also in the authority provided by governments. He categorizes the domains in which collective imaginaries manifest into six areas: representations of space, time, society, self, otherness, and representations of the past and future. According to the Theory of Social Myths, the active role of myths in these contexts is the result of a conscious mythologization process. Bouchard, who analyzes the emergence of social myths from a deterministic perspective, argues that identifying the origin of mythological discourse is crucial in the initial phase of the mythologization process. In his theory, Bouchard posits that social actors, power relations, and social change play a role in the mythologization process, interpreting a traumatic event from the distant or recent past through the metaphor of an "anchor." These "anchors" are said to evoke experiences that leave a lasting and profound emotional imprint on collective consciousness. The emotions that Bouchard refers to as "stamps" can be sustained by collective actors and strategically utilized. With the transformation of emotions into "ethos," the sacralization of emerging values and standards leads to cognitive changes in collective imaginaries. Bouchard asserts that sacralization is essential for maintaining social bonds, and the elements that gain sanctity give rise to a series of symbols. The continuity of social myths in collective imaginaries, like their emergence, depends on a process that is consciously managed. The continuity of a society's defining identity, formed by its past, emotions, aspirations, and ideals, is ensured through interpretation, selection, and glorification. Bouchard interprets visualization, figurativization, rhetoric-based oratory, and ideological discourse as the main strategies for ensuring that social myths, which keep collective memory alive, resonate with changing contexts and audiences. According to Bouchard, these strategies help better understand ideologies and public debates, strengthening the construction of myths and identities through widespread experiences. Bouchard's interpretation suggests that the mythologization process can be considered within the scope of cultural studies, ideological discourse studies, and linguistics. Such a theoretical approach could allow us to better position social myths in both formal and functional terms within a folkloric perspective and help us more deeply understand how myths, created through a society's imaginative processes, shape or at least influence its perception of reality. This theory, which examines how social myths, as part of social mobility, are produced and what role they play in cultural productions within collective imaginaries, explains how these myths are sustained and perpetuated within collective imaginaries. It analyzes the impact of social myths on the definition of various phenomena, from value and belief systems to cultural production. It is possible to analyze phenomena like artificial intelligence, healthy living, and climate change, which are endowed with a mythical appearance through the production processes and structures pointed out by Bouchard, as well as modern-day heroes like Zuckerberg, Musk, and Assange. From this point of view, the aim of the study is to examine the concept of "social myth," which argues that myths are not only influential in making sense of the past but also the present, by emphasizing the role of myths in the shaping of cultural productions and value systems in contemporary societies. The study seeks to reveal the impact of this concept on the emergence and continuity of collective imaginaries from Gerard Bouchard's theoretical perspective.