The podcast debunks “Great Person Theory”, and Hayter’s article is an example of grassroots action taken by an entire community in order to restore voting rights. Great Person Theory is intuitive to many people because we want to simplify the narrative. The truth is, almost every significant action taken throughout history is a result of the collective agency of a group of people. However, it is easier to tell and understand a story that centers on the a single person, action, or event, rather than trying to account for the countless small factors that made the flashier, defining actions of leaders possible. I think that Great Person Theory applies to situations outside the realm of the study of history. For example, many people idolize athletes or artists. When a person is famous for something they’ve done or produced, it can be very hard to separate the person from their product. In fact, celebrities often seem like superhuman figures. We don’t think of them as people, but rather as the embodiment of their work. This perspective allows us to perceive celebrities as larger than life, and as somehow above normal people. We forget that they possess the same flaws as anyone else.
Critical Thinking
I think it’s really important that you mention here that we think about events in terms of individual people because it makes it easier to tell a story and understand it. We don’t necessarily do it because we believe it – it is just more simple. Looking at all of the small things would be difficult, but in order to understand real history instead of written history, we need to take the difficult route and understand the small changes and people who lead to the big changes that we talk about.
I agree that we look at celebrities as larger than life. I think this is something that is a product of the growth of social media over the years. My personal belief is that what you see on social media is not real. Not real in the sense that these influencers and celebrities do not all live this lush and lavish life. At the end of the day these influencers and celebrities go through the same ups and downs as ourselves.
I think the Great Person Theory is the reason why we are having such a hard time bringing social justice movements to fruition. Many individuals “check out” of social justice work because they believe the actions of one individual are not enough to make an impact. This reasoning is flawed beyond a political sense, because not only does it assume that it is the responsibility of ONE person to make a change, but that if YOU are not that one person, the work you do is meaningless. Revolutions are only successful when everyone works together, through small individual but collective action, to bring about a shared outcome. It is not just the works of one person, but millions, that can move the “mountain”, so to speak.