Russians’ ideas of heroes and heroism: Stable and changing components (based on the public opinion polls)

Abstract

Despite an extensive list of the well-described aspects of heroism, this phenomenon is still understudied in sociology. Most of the projects and publications focus on identifying ‘heroes’ in public opinion or media discourse rather than on explaining why communities/societies ‘appoint’ some people heroes, and what is the conventional meaning of the word ‘hero’. Society has always paid close attention to the so-called ‘outstanding personalities’: there are official and folk heroes in all cultures, and they have always served as a kind of reference group for decision-making and self-identification. Moreover, specific types of heroes serve as one of the cultural system’s means for (self) representation: the most typical hero is often directly related to the society’s ethical complex. The authors systematize the sociologically relevant interpretations of the words ‘hero’ and ‘heroism’ together with the typologies of heroic behavior and identify the contemporary trends in the empirical study of heroism, which are certainly sociological surveys. The second part of the article presents the results of the all-Russian online survey representing four age groups: 14-19-year-olds, 20-29, 30-49 and 50-69 (N=800, 200 respondents per each age group). The survey aimed at identifying and comparing the ideas of different Russian generations about heroes and heroism. Two surveys were conducted - in 2020 and 2022, and the authors focus on the changes in the social representations of the heroic. In general, the older generation names the hero-rescuer and the hero-warrior as the main heroic types, while the younger generation prefers the hero-rescuer and the hero-good-doer. In 2022, respondents were less willing to answer questions about heroes and heroism, especially about manifestations of military heroism, but key social representations of the heroic did not change.