Culture, militarism, and America’s heroic future

This paper critically reflects back on culture, militarism, and the heroic. We see a need for greater attention to militarism, as well as re-evaluation of the heroic, on the part of cultural researchers. The heroic involves not just extraordinary physical action, but also acting with moral courage to end injustices, to support human rights, and the development of society to becoming a full or “actualized” democracy. This necessarily requires the relationship between psychological science and the American military to also involve critical assessments of the global role and impact of the American military. Integral to this re-assessment is a critical perspective on “evidence-based” interventions generally.