[canistel]

I would say the real situation is uglier:

- Driving at times has the element of game of chicken. Both parties begin with aggression and then someone (or both) gives in.

- Lot of scamming everywhere. You think twice, thrice before you make a move, especially if involves money.

- Give an inch, take a yard is the norm.

- If a rule can be bent, it will be bent. Everything ends up in brinkmanship.

(Lived in India for most of my life, but has worked in multiple countries in Europe and Asia and have visited the US)

[Iulioh]

Do you think it's cultural or just a poverty thing?

[potamic]

Cultural imo. Comparing similar conditions in SE Asia, the communal sense is stronger there. India, despite being a collectivist society, there is this weird quality where people wear bending rules as a badge of honour. Bragging about how you "beat the system" is often met with adulation which in many other cultures you wouldn't dare openly talk about.

[ricc]

> people wear bending rules as a badge of honour

It's actually quite similar for most in the Philippines. Yeah, there are some smaller cliques or sub-groups where this is frowned upon, but it is mostly also a "badge of honour".

[stuckinhell]

I don't think that's as different as you think with many many other cultures. In Eastern South Asia and the American South, You hear similar stuff all the time.

In the American Northeast, its still there but in finance related terminology.

[potamic]

For sure, but there different degrees of behaviour. Individuals everywhere are ultimately driven by a survival-of-the-fittest instinct, but some cultures do a better job of creating a negative pressure in the interest of collective benefit. The clearest way this manifests is in the queue system, where some places are better able to queue up when a need arises and some places absolutely cannot.

[stuckinhell]

Is that really true ? Queuing systems seem like a gross simplification of the instinct.

It seems more like the "survival of the fittest" instinct in American/Western societies has evolved from overt competition to more sophisticated and hidden forms within financial and economic systems (blackmail too recently).

I guess the masses don't engage in it because the elites exert extraordinary amounts of power/culture. See Elon Musk, See the House of lords, etc. The negative pressure they create is to simply keep their power.

[fakedang]

Well breaking the rules in a usually oppressive society is to be expected.

- Vedic to pre-Islamic era - get oppressed by rajas and brahmins based on caste.

- Sultanate and Mughal era - get oppressed by Mughals, Afghans, Turkomans, Persians, etc.

- Colonial era - get oppressed by the British and their English-educated/paid lackeys

- Modern era - get oppressed by police and Sarkari government babus

Oppressing other peoples seems to be a part of Indian society, so any reversal of the roles should always be celebrated imo.

[sidmitra]

Culture is mostly generational habits, learnings, hacks etc. Poverty and scarcity for generations could scar people into adopting certain habits as a way to survive; and it can be eradicated if the causal conditions go away and others take its place.