An exploration of basic human values in 38 million obituaries over 30 years.

Abstract

How societies remember the dead can reveal what people value in life. We analyzed 38 million obituaries from the United States to examine how personal values are encoded in individual and collective legacies. Using Schwartz's theory of basic human values, we found that <i>tradition</i> and <i>benevolence</i> dominated legacy reflections, while values like <i>power</i> and <i>stimulation</i> appeared less frequently. Major cultural events-the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic-were systematically linked to changes in legacy reflections about personal values, with <i>security</i> declining after 9/11, <i>achievement</i> declining after the financial crisis, and <i>benevolence</i> declining for years after COVID-19 began and, to date, not yet returning to baseline. Gender and age of the deceased were also linked to differences in legacy: Men were remembered more for <i>achievement</i>, <i>power</i>, and <i>conformity</i>, while women were remembered more for <i>benevolence</i> and <i>hedonism</i>. Older people were remembered more for <i>tradition</i> and <i>conformity</i> than younger people. These patterns shifted dynamically across the lifespan, with obituaries for men showing more age-related variation than legacies for women. Our findings reveal how obituaries serve as psychological and cultural time capsules, preserving not just individual legacies, but also indicating what US society values collectively regarding a life well lived.