Perceived societal anomie, collective memory, and support for collective action: Perceiving that current French society is anomic influences present support for collective action through the reconstructed national past

The present research aimed to examine whether perceiving anomie within current society affects people's representations of the national past and their support for collective actions through the reconstructed past. In two studies, we showed that perceived anomie affects people's evaluation of some features of a past national figure (Study 1: Charles de Gaulle, former French president who had an important role during World War II) and an event (Study 2: May 68, an important French social movement that took place in May 1968). In Study 1, participants in the anomie conditions reconstructed de Gaulle as more positive (e.g., more moral, associated with more positive emotions) than did those in the neutral condition. In Study 2, the effects were different according to the anomie dimension made salient and were moderated by political orientation: Compared to participants in the neutral condition, salience of social fabric disintegration led to less positive representations of May 68 for rightist participants whereas salience of leadership disregulation led leftist participants to consider May 68 as more central in the French identity. Moreover, the reconstructed past induced by perceived anomie in turn influenced participant's support for normative collective actions (Studies 1 & 2) and actions against outgroups (Study 2), but not their support for violent actions.