IMAGE - the Term

A fundamental concept in this study is the idea of image. This has been understood in a variety of senses, but in the present study, the prevalent concept of image is used, not in the pictorial or generally metaphorical sense, but as a perception or the mental shape of the other. In our view, images are learned as cultural practices; they form integral parts of individuals’ world views and they can be treated as temporally and regionally consistent ideological matrices which are learned by individual members through processes of socialization and cultural habitus. Those who investigate images in this sense are not necessarily concerned with the accuracy of images as much as with their construction or practice and bringing to light their underlying power relationships. Images come into being in all areas of human society, at all times and in all parts of the world and have always played an extensive role in human interactions. It is thus difficult to overestimate the significance of images.