This article describes the theoretical approach of the concept of ‘leitbilder’ which forms the basis of the following articles. ‘Leitbild’ refers to a bundle of collectively shared, pictorial ideas of the ‘normal behaviour’, i.e. something desirable, societally desired and/or presumably widespread, i.e. something that is self-evident. Thus, leitbilder combine the characteristics of values, standards and frames. They are complex visualisations that serve as an orientation for people. Leitbilder may be found as personal models on an individual level, but they also exist as cultural models on the meso and macro levels, as they are intersubjectively divided and characteristic of a certain sort of group. A particular homogeneity is therefore to be expected in society as a whole; within certain social milieus, generations and regions, a gradual increase in homogeneity of individual leitbilder can be expected. Nonetheless, cultural leitbilder are not determined by the sum of individual leitbilder within a society, but they rather gain their own independent, socially reproduced reality by institutionalisation. Manifestations of cultural leitbilder that can be recorded by standardised survey instruments can be seen, among other things, in the statistical aggregation of individual leitbilder and in the individual perception of what the most widespread leitbild in society looks like.