In this case, I’m referring to the notion that we all make minor sacrifices in our daily interactions in service of a “greater good” for everyone.
“Following the rules” would be a simplified version of what I’m talking about, I suppose. But also keeping an awareness/attitude about "How will my choices affect the people around me in this moment? “Common courtesy”, “situational awareness”, etc…
I don’t know that it’s a “new” phenomenon by any means, I just seem to have an increasing (subjective) awareness of it’s decline of late.
A. That’s not what the social contract is, and 2. There is no social contract.
This is increasingly a problem in my country (New Zealand) too, its not just the USA. It seems to be mostly a Western world thing. Going to Japan and places like that where the social contract is still upheld is very refreshing
It’s a bit of confirmation bias. Once something “big” happens to you, you start seeing little things that you’d before just write off.
But a part of it is the increase in homeless people. Many of them, thanks to mental illness and drug addiction, can’t follow a social contract.
Of course, naturally, they get left on the street where they ruin everyone else’s day instead of being forced into an area where they can exhaust themselves out, and get their illnesses treated.
Because that would cost too much money, of course, as if letting those people lose their grip on reality and break shit doesn’t already cost money.
Everyone in this thread is ignoring all of the invisible things we do everyday as part of the social contract:
-Every time someone stops at a red light
-Every time we accept a piece of paper and in return render some service or surrender some treasure
-Every person waiting in line everywhere
-Every person who pays taxes
-Every time we go to the grocery store and just take it for granted that there will be food at the grocery store
I get it some a-hole cut you off in traffic. But we rely on our social contract to literally stay alive. It is a miracle and the pinnacle of human achievement. Maybe just say thank you?
I wish more people would engage with this at the cinema
Idk, at least locally i feel like the regard for the social contract has only grown with time, sure there’s the odd teenager who doesn’t realize headphones exist but they’re stupid teenagers and everyone hates them.
I’ve actually made the experience that, at least where I live, it’s mostly people in their 40s - 60s that talk on their phone on speaker or play candy crush on full volume in the bus. While teenagers and younger people are much more respectful, use headphones etc.
Agreed. Every time I’ve been trying to have a nice dinner and some asshole is at the next table blasting their game or having a loud speakerphone conversation, they’re middle-aged or older. Kids either have headphones or have it on mute.
Older people tend to just shout a lot because they refuse to protect their hearing, with young people it’s either just straight up immaturity or they have issues at home and that results in them actively enjoying being a dick for various reasons.
This right hear is the general lack of social contract what if a kid reads this and kills themselves
I don’t know if it’s actually real but I feel like since Corona and the Lockdowns many people are even nastier than before.
I’m looking forward to research on that.
I’ve an impression that “people are even nastier than before” has been a result of Trump era politics which reveled in nastiness — which itself appeared to be a pushback from nasty people about Obama being president. Basically its been a growing divide and was made a lot worse when such a prominent political group doubled down on divisiveness as a tribal identity.
I think it predated covid, which certainly made things worse, but I don’t really know what the cause was.
I’d agree that it started pre-covid. Trumpers really were/are vile and despicable. Their leader was pure garbage during covid which brought out even more outrageous reaction against science and those who tried to do the right thing.
It’s about trust. In a low trust society people show no regard for the society as a whole and will only act in their own interest.
There are various reasons why people loose any sense of belonging to a society, but the outcomes are always the same and you will see what you are describing.
I wanna say today it’s mainly caused by inequality and cronyism that’s been skyrocketing over the last 50 years.
Inequality at the levels we’re at destroys society from multiple angles, from making life completely unaffordable, to making dating harder to making different demographics blame each other for all the problems.
If you don’t feel your investment into the society is reciprocated, then you feel no need to follow any of its rules or make any sacrifices for it.
Unfortunately, there are lots of situations in life where being a piece of shit gets you rewards.
That person cutting you off in traffic, grabbing the last item on the shelf when you were there first, cutting in line, cheating on their taxes, stealing the job you were in line to get, along with the infinite examples of this in the business and political world.
The vast vast majority of assholes never face real consequences, and those consequences rarely outweigh the benefits they’ve enjoyed from being an asshole.
I think about the “zero consequences” thing a lot. I help run the local farmers’ market, and recently our city has stepped up parking enforcement. (As a “rule-follower”, I celebrated the change.) Our customers are howling at the parking tickets they’re getting. They come to the market Info Booth to complain to us–as if it were our responsibility somehow.
Yeah there is a reason why stories or videos or movies showcasing justice are so popular. It’s because very rarely in your life do you see real justice.
You need those movies and videos to show you the good guys winning because most times in life the bad guy wins.
Holy shit this is so true.
Not enough people were taught that they should treat other people how they, themselves, would like to be treated.
Well, it’s that or they just have zero self-respect.
What’s fascinating is reading about the social contract following WW2. It seems to line up that when that generation was in charge things like CEO pay wasn’t off the charts. Then the next generation it started to go up. And now the 3rd generation it’s completely bonkers.
Don’t discount unions though. And don’t forget that black people didn’t get the social contract.
I keep in mind that observation bias is a thing and I can’t remember the people around me who are constantly following it.
Many years ago I was walking out of Port Authority and a women, clearly mentally ill, ran up to me and wacked me in the back. There is zero doubt that I have passed well over 10k people in that area in my life. I only remember 1 of them because of what she did 1 time to me.
I feel the same way about “acting professional”.
Common courtesy and following the rules and situational awareness are not the same thing as “how will my choices affect the people around men in this moment.”
Answering the title: yes. All the fucking time.
One of the little things that annoy me to hell and back is the “lack of decency” from marketing companies that robocall you nonstop. Knowing that someone is profitting off my (and millions’) misery makes it even more infuriating.
Then there’s the actually small, dumb stuff that people also insist, like refusing to get out of the way and thinking -you- are wrong for wanting to get past them. In a fucking public space that their fat ass is almost fully blocking.
“A video game for men that feel lonely”
I was in shock when i first saw such an ad. How low can you go?
Advertising is 100% an arms race. It’s probably one of the most destructive things to the social fabric and goodwill in society right now.
Proactive truth, honesty, and disclosure should be the priority of companies when reaching the market. Instead we get entertainment, vague claims and absurd lies.
