Abstract: In the early twenty-first century, a group of sociologists based at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, represented by Jeffrey C. Alexander, formally developed a constructivist theory of cultural trauma, or a constructivist social theory of trauma. Based on the rejection of pathological and essentialist theories of trauma, this theory argues that trauma does not exist naturally, but is a symbolic/representational construct; trauma, therefore, is not innately traumatizing but becomes so through social and cultural interpretations and interactions. The primary objective of this cultural trauma theory is to uncover and understand the nature, processes, and mechanisms behind this construction, thereby providing insights into the social underpinnings of trauma.

Key words: cultural trauma, psychoanalysis, constructivism, Jeffrey C. Alexander