What is it about?
Every epoch builds its cultural heroes over a particular myth. Myths are universal patterns that shape grand narratives in which the hopes and anxieties of the era are captured. By comparing the structure of Assange and Zuckerberg's Wikipedia biographies with the myth of Hermes I show that despite the fact these two personalities are considered almost opposites, they are not in terms of how they capture our imagination.
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Why is it important?
In the same way that in the modern era the rebel Prometheus was the myth that shaped the most iconic leaders (being Napoleon the most obvious example), in the postmodern era the trickster Hermes is the one that does the same. Once this is understood, it is more clear why certain profiles like Barak Obama, Donald Trump or Steve Jobs, all depicted at some point as tricksters, emerged as leaders. It also offers some interesting insights for practitioners and scholars working in Public Relations issues.
Perspectives
During the period I have been working on this paper and its presentation in conferences and publication, I have witnessed Steve Ballmer replaced by Satya Nadella. I saw the election of Obama and Trump against all odd. And I saw that coming. Having this myth in mind is quite a good heuristic technique to predict the emergence of potential cultural leaders. That said, another myth will eventually replace the current ruling myth, and it is fascinating to see specialized scholars tracing pop culture in order to learn which one it will be.
Antonio Blanco-Gracia
EADA Business School
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Assange vs Zuckerberg: Symbolic Construction of Contemporary Cultural Heroes, Organization Studies, September 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0170840618789203.
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