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Institutional trauma and collective memory in the welfare sector: A philosophical-sociological analysis of moral order and epistemic rupture

stmm. 2026 (1): 155–170

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2026.01.155

Full text: https://stmm.in.ua/archive/ukr/2026-1/11.pdf

MICHAEL HIMMLEGAARD, Doctoral Student at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (9RF7+7P5, Hüseyn Cavid Prospect, Baki, Az 1073, Azerbaijan)

michael.himmlegaard@outlook.com

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5963-0279

This article develops a theoretical framework for understanding how organizational crises and public scandals in the welfare sector generate institutional trauma and reorganize collective memory among employees. Drawing upon the author's philosophical sociology, the analysis conceptualizes welfare institutions not as neutral bureaucracies, but as moral fields structured by symbolic hierarchies, socially sustained epistemic orders and historically sedimented categories of moral judgment. Institutional trauma is understood not as an aggregation of individual psychological injuries but as a socially mediated epistemic rupture – a breakdown in the taken-for-granted frameworks that make professional action intelligible and morally justified.

The article proposes a multidimensional theoretical synthesis combining Durkheim’s account of collective representations and anomie, Mannheim’s conception of socially situated knowledge, Bourdieu’s field theory and Collins’s model of interaction ritual chains, supplemented by insights from the sociology of cultural trauma (Sztompka, 2000) and social memory studies (Halbwachs, 1992; Olick & Robbins, 1998). Conceptually, it argues that crises in welfare institutions disrupt three interwoven orders: (1) the moral order regulating expectations of care and responsibility, (2) the epistemic order that defines what counts as valid professional knowledge, and (3) the mnemonic order through which institutions remember and narrate their past.

Empirically oriented illustrations are drawn from a purposively selected corpus of staff testimonies, internal documents, and public representations from documented crises in European welfare institutions. These materials are treated not as a representative sample but as analytically constructed narratives that illuminate recurring patterns of moral breakdown, epistemic disorientation, and reconstructive rituals of repair. The article concludes that institutional trauma is best understood as a collective condition in which moral, cognitive and mnemonic orders are simultaneously shaken, and that welfare institutions “heal” themselves – if at all – by reshaping their symbolic boundaries and mnemonic practices rather than simply by implementing new procedures.

Keywords: institutional trauma; collective memory; welfare sector; organizational culture; philosophical sociology; Bourdieu; Collins; Sztompka

Referenes:

  1. Alexander, J.C. (2023). Moral recalibration in welfare bureaucracies: Frontline responses to institutional wrongdoing. Sociology, 57(4), 691-708.

  2. Berger, P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.

  3. Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (R. Nice, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  4. Bourdieu, P. (1990). The Logic of Practice (R. Nice, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503621749

  5. Bourdieu, P. (2003). Pascalian Meditations (R. Nice, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

  6. Collins, R. (2004). Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400851744

  7. Denzin, N.K. (2017). The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods (4th edn.). London, England: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315134543

  8. Durkheim, É. (1951 [1897]). Suicide: A Study in Sociology (J.A. Spaulding & G. Simpson, Trans.). New York, NY: Free Press.

  9. Durkheim, É. (1995 [1912]). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (K. E. Fields, Trans.). New York, NY: Free Press.

  10. European Sociological Association. (2022). Code of ethics. Retrieved from: https://www.europeansociology.org/about-esa/governance/ethical-guidelines

  11. Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language (2nd edn.). Abingdon, England: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315834368

  12. Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A.L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago, IL: Aldine. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-196807000-00014

  13. Halbwachs, M. (1992 [1950]). On Collective Memory (L.A. Coser, Ed. & Trans.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226774497.001.0001

  14. Harris, A. & Robson, J. (2022). Institutional moral injury: Professional identity, ethical strain, and the limits of organisational responsibility. Sociology of Health & Illness, 44(7), 1150-1166.

  15. Himmlegaard, M. (2025). Philosophical Sociology: A Sociological View of Philosophical Thought. Stockholm, Sweden: Södertörn University Press.

  16. Lincoln, Y.S. & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(85)90062-8

  17. Lloyd, K., Delimata, N., & Stanley, T. (2024). Mnemonic boundary-work in public institutions: Remembering and forgetting organisational crises. Social Identities, 30(2), 185-201.

  18. Mannheim, K. (1936). Ideology and Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge (L. Wirth & E. Shils, Trans.). New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & Company.

  19. Olick, J.K. (1999). Collective memory: The two cultures. Sociological Theory, 17(3), 333-348. https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00083

  20. Olick, J.K. & Robbins, J. (1998). Social memory studies: From "collective memory" to the historical sociology of mnemonic practices. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 105-140. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.105

  21. Sztompka, P. (2000). Cultural trauma: The other face of social change. European Journal of Social Theory, 3(4), 449-466. https://doi.org/10.1177/136843100003004004

  22. Tavory, I. & Eliasoph, N. (2013). Coordinating futures: Toward a theory of anticipation. American Journal of Sociology, 118(4), 908-942. https://doi.org/10.1086/668646

Received 26.10.25

Accepted for publication after review 01.12.2025

Institutional trauma and collective memory in the welfare sector: A philosophical-sociological analysis of moral order and epistemic rupture

stmm. 2026 (1): 155–170

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2026.01.155

Full text: https://stmm.in.ua/archive/ukr/2026-1/11.pdf

MICHAEL HIMMLEGAARD, Doctoral Student at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (9RF7+7P5, Hüseyn Cavid Prospect, Baki, Az 1073, Azerbaijan)

michael.himmlegaard@outlook.com

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5963-0279

This article develops a theoretical framework for understanding how organizational crises and public scandals in the welfare sector generate institutional trauma and reorganize collective memory among employees. Drawing upon the author's philosophical sociology, the analysis conceptualizes welfare institutions not as neutral bureaucracies, but as moral fields structured by symbolic hierarchies, socially sustained epistemic orders and historically sedimented categories of moral judgment. Institutional trauma is understood not as an aggregation of individual psychological injuries but as a socially mediated epistemic rupture – a breakdown in the taken-for-granted frameworks that make professional action intelligible and morally justified.

The article proposes a multidimensional theoretical synthesis combining Durkheim’s account of collective representations and anomie, Mannheim’s conception of socially situated knowledge, Bourdieu’s field theory and Collins’s model of interaction ritual chains, supplemented by insights from the sociology of cultural trauma (Sztompka, 2000) and social memory studies (Halbwachs, 1992; Olick & Robbins, 1998). Conceptually, it argues that crises in welfare institutions disrupt three interwoven orders: (1) the moral order regulating expectations of care and responsibility, (2) the epistemic order that defines what counts as valid professional knowledge, and (3) the mnemonic order through which institutions remember and narrate their past.

Empirically oriented illustrations are drawn from a purposively selected corpus of staff testimonies, internal documents, and public representations from documented crises in European welfare institutions. These materials are treated not as a representative sample but as analytically constructed narratives that illuminate recurring patterns of moral breakdown, epistemic disorientation, and reconstructive rituals of repair. The article concludes that institutional trauma is best understood as a collective condition in which moral, cognitive and mnemonic orders are simultaneously shaken, and that welfare institutions “heal” themselves – if at all – by reshaping their symbolic boundaries and mnemonic practices rather than simply by implementing new procedures.

Keywords: institutional trauma; collective memory; welfare sector; organizational culture; philosophical sociology; Bourdieu; Collins; Sztompka

Referenes:

  1. Alexander, J.C. (2023). Moral recalibration in welfare bureaucracies: Frontline responses to institutional wrongdoing. Sociology, 57(4), 691-708.

  2. Berger, P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.

  3. Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (R. Nice, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  4. Bourdieu, P. (1990). The Logic of Practice (R. Nice, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503621749

  5. Bourdieu, P. (2003). Pascalian Meditations (R. Nice, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

  6. Collins, R. (2004). Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400851744

  7. Denzin, N.K. (2017). The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods (4th edn.). London, England: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315134543

  8. Durkheim, É. (1951 [1897]). Suicide: A Study in Sociology (J.A. Spaulding & G. Simpson, Trans.). New York, NY: Free Press.

  9. Durkheim, É. (1995 [1912]). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (K. E. Fields, Trans.). New York, NY: Free Press.

  10. European Sociological Association. (2022). Code of ethics. Retrieved from: https://www.europeansociology.org/about-esa/governance/ethical-guidelines

  11. Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language (2nd edn.). Abingdon, England: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315834368

  12. Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A.L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago, IL: Aldine. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-196807000-00014

  13. Halbwachs, M. (1992 [1950]). On Collective Memory (L.A. Coser, Ed. & Trans.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226774497.001.0001

  14. Harris, A. & Robson, J. (2022). Institutional moral injury: Professional identity, ethical strain, and the limits of organisational responsibility. Sociology of Health & Illness, 44(7), 1150-1166.

  15. Himmlegaard, M. (2025). Philosophical Sociology: A Sociological View of Philosophical Thought. Stockholm, Sweden: Södertörn University Press.

  16. Lincoln, Y.S. & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(85)90062-8

  17. Lloyd, K., Delimata, N., & Stanley, T. (2024). Mnemonic boundary-work in public institutions: Remembering and forgetting organisational crises. Social Identities, 30(2), 185-201.

  18. Mannheim, K. (1936). Ideology and Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge (L. Wirth & E. Shils, Trans.). New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & Company.

  19. Olick, J.K. (1999). Collective memory: The two cultures. Sociological Theory, 17(3), 333-348. https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00083

  20. Olick, J.K. & Robbins, J. (1998). Social memory studies: From "collective memory" to the historical sociology of mnemonic practices. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 105-140. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.105

  21. Sztompka, P. (2000). Cultural trauma: The other face of social change. European Journal of Social Theory, 3(4), 449-466. https://doi.org/10.1177/136843100003004004

  22. Tavory, I. & Eliasoph, N. (2013). Coordinating futures: Toward a theory of anticipation. American Journal of Sociology, 118(4), 908-942. https://doi.org/10.1086/668646

Received 26.10.25

Accepted for publication after review 01.12.2025

LATEST PRINTED ISSUE

LATEST FREELY ACCESSIBLE MATERIALS

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