The Power of the Visual: Threats and Opportunities for Democratic Research and Practice

Abstract

Visual elements have become omnipresent in contemporary society shaping how individuals experience, interpret, and engage with political and social realities. From viral images and protest art to political memes, campaign videos, and data visualizations, the visual is now central to the construction and contestation of meaning in the public sphere. The rapid evolution of digital technologies has not only multiplied the channels through which visuals circulate but has also transformed the ways in which knowledge is produced, shared, and consumed. As a result, the visual is no longer a mere accessory to text or speech—it is a primary language of public life, research, and policy. Despite this ubiquity, the visual has often been relegated to a superficial or stylistic role within the social sciences. Historically, images and visual media were treated as illustrations or embellishments, secondary to the “real” work of analysis and theory-building. The methodological and epistemological potential of the visual was frequently overlooked, and its capacity to generate, structure, and communicate knowledge remained underexplored. Only recently has there been a renewed scholarly interest in the visual, driven in large part by technological advances that enable new forms of data collection, analysis, and dissemination. This panel seeks to critically examine the dual role of visuals in democratic life. On one hand, visuals can be harnessed to threaten democracy—by spreading disinformation, reinforcing polarization, or manipulating public opinion. On the other hand, visuals also offer powerful opportunities for democratic knowledge creation, civic engagement, and the strengthening of pluralistic debate. Visuals can serve as empirical data, as objects of critical inquiry, and as vehicles for the transmission and dissemination of ideas. They can reveal tacit dimensions of social life, capture affective and embodied experiences, and facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue. Visual storytelling, participatory mapping, and data visualization, for example, can empower communities, foster transparency, and make complex political phenomena accessible to broader publics. This panel welcomes contributions from across political science and the broader social sciences that approach the visual as data (e.g., visual ethnography, content analysis, computational image analysis), as the subject of inquiry (e.g., studies of visual political communication, visual narratives, or the politics of representation), and as a means of sharing and translating research findings (e.g., documentary, infographics, interactive media). We encourage submissions that address both the risks and the democratic potential of visuals, and that reflect on the theoretical, methodological, and ethical questions raised by the visual turn. By assembling research that treats the visual as method, object, and medium, this panel aims to foster dialogue across disciplinary and methodological boundaries. We seek to advance understanding of how visuals can both challenge and enrich democracy, and to reflect on the opportunities and challenges that visual approaches present for social science research in an era of image saturation and democratic contestation.

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