tidsbilder

Tidsbilder is a Swedish term used in history, cultural studies, and media studies to describe the culturally constructed image or representation of a particular period. It refers to how a society collectively envisions and narrates its present and its past, including prevalent values, fears, aspirations, and everyday life. The concept emphasizes visual and narrative portraits of time, rather than a precise chronological record alone.

Tidsbilder are produced and reproduced through a range of cultural outputs and institutions, such as newspapers, literature, film, television, art, advertising, education, and political discourse. Researchers study these sources to map how a given era is imagined: which symbols, archetypes, and stories dominate, which technologies are celebrated or feared, and how different groups are included or marginalized in the era’s self-image. Methodologically, the analysis often involves textual and visual analysis, discourse analysis, and examinations of museums, archives, and digital media.

The concept is related to, but distinct from, the broader idea of Zeitgeist. While Zeitgeist refers to the spirit or mood of an age, tidsbilder focuses on concrete images and narratives that shape how people perceive and remember a period. It allows comparisons across regions and times, highlighting continuities and changes in public memory and identity.

In Swedish scholarship, tidsbilder have been used to discuss postwar optimism and consumer culture, social transformation in the 1960s and 1970s, and the impact of digitalization in recent decades. See also Zeitgeist, cultural history, and collective memory.