ECONOMICS SEMINAR SERIES (ESS) - 2024/2025

Speaker: Melanie Xue Meng (London School of Economics)

Title: British Industrialization and Cultural Change: Evidence From the Use of Proverbs

Abstract
This study examines cultural change in Britain following industrialization by analyzing over 30,000 proverbs from English folk tradition, compiled from four major sources. Our primary measure examines the frequency of proverb usage in books and newspapers. To classify proverbs, we use large language models and BERTopic clustering—both validated through human verification—revealing multiple shifts in social attitudes that accompanied industrial growth. Notably, references to prioritizing action over words and valuing patience in problem-solving show a marked increase during this period. By tracing these trends in proverbial wisdom, our findings provide the first systematic account of cultural change in Britain’s industrial era.