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.
It’s definitely gotten worse due to the dispersion of our social groups.
It used to be that we would interact with the same people for a large chunk of our lives. The guy you shoulder checked on the path was your dad’s coworker etc. The social contract was a lot more reciprocal.
Now, we bounce around the city/country/world, almost on a whim. This breaks alot of the connections that reinforced the social contract.
In scientific terms, the Nash equilibrium has changed. The social contract is close to a classic prisoner dilemma situation. It used to be iterative, and so favour a “tit for tat” response. It is now closer to multiple random individual interactions. This favours “defection” more, since the other person will never get a chance to respond.