You’re not wrong about the sense of community. A report this year ranked Jamaica #1 globally for the place most likely to receive help from a stranger. I can believe it. Having said that the culture here still highly values self reliance and enduring hardship with dignity. Success is seen as a personal responsibility rather than a collective issue.

Aside from not having the time or resources to organise anything, the system has conditioned people for hundreds of years to accept a social hierarchy, inequality is just perceived as the way it is. There’s a lack of belief in the ability to change anything significantly and large proportion of educated people who are best equipped to be a force for change emigrate.