The article discusses four dominant perspectives in the sociology of heroism: the study of great men; hero stories; heroic actions; and hero institutions. The discussion ties together heroism and fundamental sociological debates about the relationship between the individual and the social order; it elucidates the socio-psychological, cultural/ideational and socio-political structuring of heroism, which challenges the tendency to understand people, actions and events as naturally, or intrinsically, heroic; and it points to a theoretical trajectory within the literature, which has moved from very exclusive to more inclusive conceptualisations of a hero. After this discussion, the article examines three problematic areas in the sociology of heroism: the underlying masculine character of heroism; the presumed disappearance of the hero with modernisation; and the principal idea of heroism as a pro-social phenomenon. The article calls for a more self-conscious engagement with this legacy, which could stimulate dialogue across different areas of sociological research.

The article challenges the thesis that western societies have moved towards a post-heroic mood in which military casualties are interpreted as nothing but a waste of life. Using content analysis and qualitative textual analysis of obituaries produced by the Royal Danish Army in memory of soldiers killed during the Second World War (1940–1945) and the military campaign in Afghanistan (2002–2014), the article shows that a ‘good’ military death is no longer conceived of as a patriotic sacrifice, but is instead legitimised by an appeal to the unique moral worth, humanitarian goals and high professionalism of the fallen. The article concludes that fatalities in international military engagement have invoked a sense of post-patriotic heroism instead of a post-heroic crisis, and argues that the social order of modern society has underpinned, rather than undermined, ideals of military self-sacrifice and heroism, contrary to the predominant assumption of the literature on post-heroic warfare.

No abstract

The inability of the nation-state system to handle contemporary environmental issues comprehensively has spurred greater cooperation between religious and secular civil society actors. An empirical analysis of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) contributes to knowledge about this process on an organizational and identity level. Tracing the mobilization of economic resources shows that the ARC functions as a boundary organization between self-declared religious and secular, local, national, and international actors, while the opening ceremony of the 25th anniversary of the ARC illustrates the identity construction of the organization’s network. This identity is based on a commitment to religious pluralism and a strong emphasis on humanity as an integral part of nature. In conclusion, the ARC is considered as an expression of the rise of what Daniel Deudney (1998) and Bron Taylor (2010a) have termed Terrapolitan Earth Religion.

This paper explores the rise of the soldier hero in Denmark. From the analysis of prime ministers' New Year Addresses between 1940 and 2015, it is evident that the heroification of Danish soldiers has been linked to the elevation of professionalism, self-motivation, individual responsibility, and global outlook as civic virtues since the 1990s. Utilising the concept of a survival unit developed by Norbert Elias, it argues that this elevation is a result of the gradual emergence of 'competition state' and 'security state' strategies for protecting the Danish welfare state in the wake of growing international interdependency. On this basis, the paper seeks to contribute to the literature on the social construction of heroes within a theoretical perspective that takes the dynamic relations between states into account, and to explain why specific notions of a hero develop.