I’m not convinced social heirarchy/inequality causes vandalism as much as bored teenage deliquents do. I can’t picture a bunch of tired fast food workers who ca

I’m not convinced social heirarchy/inequality causes vandalism as much as bored teenage deliquents do. I can’t picture a bunch of tired fast food workers who can’t wait to get off their shift and smash a coke machine or tag walls. Having lived in Japan my theory is that there is a much tighter social fabric and there is always someone watching. Japan has plenty of delinquents but there is always a slightly higher more responsible delinquent to go “hey idiot vandalism isn’t cool” (or a nosy neighbor to call the local cops who will find the perps family. And the ostracism can be instant and brutal in a way that isn’t really even possible in middle class America because we do not rely on the social fabric or reputation anymore since we are a fairly low trust society.