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Young People's Heroes in France and Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Hugh Gash  and
Pilar Domínguez Rodríguez
Hugh Gash*
Affiliation:
St. Patrick's College (Ireland)
Pilar Domínguez Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Hugh Gash. Education Department. St. Patrick's College. Drumcondra. Dublin 9. Ireland. Phone: +353 1 8842058. Fax: + 353 1 8376197. E-Mail: hugh.gash@spd.dcu.ie
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Abstract

Heroes play collectivist or individualist roles in imagination and self-development. Representations of heroic figures in questionnaires given to French (n = 241) and Spanish (n = 227) samples of 10 and 15-year-olds were examined to assess the extent that heroes originated in digital media, and whether they were proximal or distal personalities. There is strong evidence that heroes in this sample were largely learned about in digital media (France 45%, Spain 50%): family and community heroes were a minority (France 11%, Spain 9%). Male heroes were more important to Spanish participants compared to their French peers. The acquisition sequence for hero type reported in the pre-television era, proximal (family and community) to distal (beyond the neighbourhood), is reversed in this study. Generally, 10-year-olds preferred heroes with collectivist qualities and 15 year olds with individualised qualities. Findings are discussed in terms of the emergence of social capital.

Los héroes juegan unos roles colectivistas o individualistas en la imaginación y en el auto-desarrollo. Se examinaron las representaciones de figuras heroicas en los cuestionarios entregados a muestras de niños franceses (n = 241) y españoles (n = 227) de 10 y de 15 años de edad para evaluar hasta qué grado los héroes se originaron en los medios digitales, y si eran personalidades próximas o distantes Existe mucha evidencia de que los niños, sobre todo, se enteraron de los héroes en esta muestra en los medios digitales (Francia 45%, España 50%): los héroes familiares y de la comunidad eran minoría (Francia 11%, España 9%). Los héroes masculinos eran más importantes para los participantes españoles en comparación con sus iguales franceses. La secuencia de adquisición para el tipo de héroe referido en la etapa pre-televisiva, próximo (familia y comunidad) a distante (más allá del barrio), está invertida en este estudio. Generalmente, los niños de 10 años prefieren héroes con cualidades colectivistas y los de 15 años los prefieren con cualidades individualistas. Los resultados se comentan en términos de la emergencia de capital social.

Keywords

herogenderFrenchSpanishchildrenhéroegénerofrancésespañolniños
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , May 2009 , pp. 246 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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