Social Representations of Heroes: Triggers from the Past, Values in the Present, Patterns for the Future

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.