Learning Through Stories: Tracing the Origins and Intergenerational Impact of Educational Themes in Folklore

Abstract

I study the ability of folklore to transmit cultural attitudes and teachings from the pre-industrial period to the present day. Despite their universal significance in our communities, the heterogeneity and cross-generational influence of folklore is not well understood. Why do societies tell vastly different stories? How are pre-industrial narratives still relevant today? I answer these two questions by adapting models from evolutionary anthropology to argue that (i) folklore inculcates practical and social skills according to a society’s unique needs; and (ii) that it inherently serves as the medium through which these teachings are transmitted inter-generationally. To quantitatively test these hypotheses, I employ multiple machine learning techniques to extract semantic insights on the salience of educational, STEM, and Humanities themes from stories spanning over 900 globally distributed ethnic groups. By linking these insights to data on historical group characteristics, climatic instability, and contemporary individual outcomes, I find suggestive evidence for the first hypothesis and moderately causal evidence for the second. First, I observe that STEM themes in folklore are more apparent in societies with practical needs, whilst Humanities themes are more salient in groups that prioritize socialization. Second, I find that educational themes in modern individuals' ancestral folklore substantively impact both their educational attainment and occupational choices. Taken together, my results imply that folklore serves as a powerful instrument to not only understand the values and cultures of our ancestors, but also our own.