Devoted Actors die & kill in the name of Sacred Objects: Part XXI

When people act as “devoted actors” they are duty-based agents who mobilize for collective action to protect cherished values in ways dissociated from risks or rewards. Devoted actors represent a dimension of thought and behavior distinct from instrumental rationality in resisting material compromises over such values. People become willing to protect morally important or sacred values through costly sacrifice and extreme actions, even being willing to kill and die, particularly when such values are fused with group identity, becoming intrinsic to “Who I am” and “Who We are.”