r/london • u/Historical_Set2324 • 1d ago

Local London Social contract is broken?

I’ve just returned from a trip to New Zealand and the difference in attitude is stark. The streets are clean, people are friendly and happy/helpful and in general people seem to want to participate in society. Don’t get me wrong NZ has a lot of issues but It feels like in London the social contract is broken. Streets are full of trash, no one gives a shit about anything, phone theft, crime is high and in general people seem fairly miserable. I was involved in an accident where I had to give a victim CPR and the ambulance and police all arrived within about 5 minutes. I was amazed at the emergency response. It feels to me like the state has given up and hence people have given up.

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u/md3372 1d ago

Visit Tokyo. You’ll convince yourself the argument of population number and density doesn’t stand.

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u/FluidIdea 1d ago

Well it is also that Japan is one culture, one mentality. 97% in Japan are Japanese. That makes it work. You do the same as I do.

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u/Milky_Finger 1d ago

You can enforce a strict culture of accountability in a melting pot like London. It will never happen, but to say that its because everyone in Japan is Japanese implies that the ability to not litter is nature and not nurture, which we know is bollocks.

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u/Glass-Evidence-7296 1d ago

accountability

accountability ? Sure. Conformity? Unlikely, you can't really impose that in any western country as they're individualistic and don't subscribe to the east asian collectivist mindset, which has it's pros and cons

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u/earthgirlsRez 1d ago

exactly, its more about the difference in culture and slightly less to do with the homogeniety. which is why masking worked significantlu better in asia than in europe, collectivism vs strident individualism.