Heroes as harbingers of social change: Gender, race, and hero choice in the USA and Britain

Abstract

Acknowledging the importance of heroes in the framing of political identities and building on the expanding interdisciplinary scholarship, this paper offers a novel approach by situating the analysis of public choices of heroes within debates on social change, and, specifically, inclusion and diversity politics. Utilising an original dataset of two individual-level, nationally representative surveys of British and US adults, we demonstrate that the landscape of popular heroism in both countries is shaped by limited acceptance of traditionally under-represented groups such as women and ethnic minorities. Using rigorous testing and regression analysis, we highlight the endurance of a white male hero whose dominance is only challenged through preferences for same-sex and same-race/ethnicity hero-figures, with both trends signposting the symbolic boundaries of embracing the difference. Overall, this paper highlights a critical role of popular heroes in advancing inclusion and diversity agendas and urges for further empirical research on the socio-political functions, and gender, race-specific drivers of heroism.