Abstract
AbstractThe representations of heroes and the heroic acts point to social values, norms, and morality of the present, creating a bridge between the past and a potential future. In this paper, a cross-cultural explorative study of heroes is presented aiming to explore general tendencies and possible patterns related to the different social contexts. Participants were reached from seven countries via social media (N = 974) for corpus construction. We asked by their choice of hero, national hero, and desired heroic action in their respective countries. A thematic analysis was conducted. Results show that there is a high rate of no choice, while among the chosen the prototypical hero is a lone moral man acting in the private (family) or public sphere (political actors). Both spheres offer the naturalization of the hero. There is a dialogical frame between the exceptional and the ordinary. Chosen heroes are dominantly contemporary males’ family members or political figures. While the purpose attributed to the personal hero is to maintain stability, the purpose attributed to the heroic actions of the public sphere is to obtain change. Similarities and differences between the seven subcorpuses are also described.
Highlights
From a social-psychological perspective, the increasing freedom followed by the economic crisis caused uncertainty of the last decades created space for collective anxieties
Results show that there is a high rate of no choice, while among the chosen the prototypical hero is a lone moral man acting in the private or public sphere
There is a crescent antagonism of reference frames about social reality as responding to “threat, people may refer to such knowledge in order to interpret the threatening situation and to take action on the basis of culturally available strategies and discursive resources” (Staerklé, 2011:89) between the demand of highly structured social order with authoritarian leaders, secure structure, definite norms, traditional values, stable borders which competes with more dynamic demands of social order
Summary
From a social-psychological perspective, the increasing freedom followed by the economic crisis caused uncertainty of the last decades created space for collective anxieties. A new split arises and become more and more visible between these more dynamic social orders: la realité de liberté (Charrue, 2005)—based on the norms of self-interest, free will, autonomy, individual responsibility, and self-regulating economy and the la realité de fraternité—based on the norms of horizontal democratic processes, interdependence, solidarity, cooperation, the experiencing and managing diversity for an equitable, and inclusive society (Brown, 2011; Graham, 1992; Hepburn, 2003) People anchored to these different norms are seeking for ideals, moral compasses, heroes to look up to and follow their lead in congruence to their own reference frame. As Allison and Goethals (2014) point out in their conceptualization of the Heroic Leadership Dynamic, narratives about heroes offer psychological benefits These characters can fulfill cognitive and emotional needs by providing wisdom, meaning, hope, inspiration, and growth. As these needs are unstable and change over time, the choices of heroes change depending on the individual’s developmental stage and current life situation (Allison & Goethals, 2014)
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