I wonder what makes it different than Japan. Japan, also a large island nation with a developed economy, is also socially conservative in most areas—but the people rely on each other to enforce social norms instead of the law. The government is famously hands off, and tends to release statements and public service campaigns about what citizens should do rather than dictating to them what they must do. And the people generally follow the rules!

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kypro 9 hours ago | parent [-]

> the people rely on each other to enforce social norms

This is probably the difference.

Here's a video of a leading UK MP (whose party largely represents upper-middle class white-Brits) reacing to someone doing something he doesn't like on public transport:

https://www.facebook.com/libdems/videos/stop-the-headphone-d...

Note the passivate aggression, then the threat to use state force to stop it.

British people are too polite to tell people to stop doing things. We prefer that to be a responsibility of the police.

	▲	iamnothere 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The thing is, Japanese are also typically very polite! For minor violations of social protocol, you’re most likely to get a polite request or indirect reminder from someone. (It would be rude to make someone lose face, even someone who is violating a norm!) Yet somehow it works.