A culture’s store of cautionary stories shapes its consumption behavior

Evidence

Cautionary stories of the consequences of taking too much are ubiquitous in Native cultures, but it’s hard to recall a single one in English. Perhaps this helps to explain why we seem to be caught in a trap of overconsumption, which is as destructive to ourselves as to those we consume. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 641

Categorization

• XREF: Feeds the reader’s need for causal logic of colonialism’s disruption of reciprocity — links to ch39 sustainable harvest norms and the Thanksgiving Address chapters’ collectivist ethic. — connects to: Mildly counterintuitive content boosts cultural transmission of ideas — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 362; Radicalized uncertainty intensifies society’s hunger for orienting narratives; Uncertainty deepens societies’ need for narratives and makes finance their model — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 36

Broader Connections

• Radicalized uncertainty intensifies society’s hunger for orienting narratives #expands (0.78)
• Mildly counterintuitive content boosts cultural transmission of ideas #expands (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 362
• Uncertainty deepens societies’ need for narratives and makes finance their model #expands (0.72) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 36