"[3] Collective representations are generally slow-changing and backed by social authority, and can be seen as the product of self-referencing institutions.
[6] Seen as shared mental maps of the social world, collective representations continue to affect the ways entities such as Europe are viewed in the 21st century.
On this point, Holocaust survivor Jean Améry has written, "It would be totally senseless to try and describe here the pain that was inflicted on me.
They report on events of global significance in certain cultural and political contexts in which the contesting representations based on the fragmentary memories of traumatized survivors, perpetrators and witnesses are fought over by politicians and other interested parties.
[citation needed] The impact of such media narratives on the formation of collective representations is still being studied.