ABSTRACT
The notion of image, in the sense used in the preceding chapter, has a simple and natural extension to all concepts that are important to more or less homogeneous groups of individuals. In addition to images of such significant abstractions as nation and race, we all carry images of our social environment. More than just the familiar patterns of streets and buildings, our city or neighborhood is a place with characteristics that are perceptual and at the same time evaluative, cognitive, and emotional. Moreover, these more or less well-defined physical entities, cities, neighborhoods, and the like have names, and these names, in their own right, become invested with psychological meaning. Furthermore, there are social abstractions, such as work or boss, that provide equally important components of our environment.
