During my childhood in Japan, I learned to place great value on communal activities to encourage social and economic thriving. While this kind of social pressure can be extremely dangerous to high school and middle school students when coupled with a strict perfectionism (as seen in the numerous studies done on the Hikikomori epidemic across Japan), the imperative it places upon individuals to be seamless parts of a society can produce truly stunning results.
One particular instance that stood out to me (I thought about it after Alex’s comment about planting flowers as public goods) occurred when a very large shopping center opened up in the ward next to the one I grew up in. After initial construction was over and the layout of the area was established, several hundred men, women, and children from the surrounding area gathered around the premises of the shopping center over two weekends to undertake a massive gardening operation. Whether these actions were motivated by a keen sense of social pressure, thoughts of business brought to the area by the collection of stores, or a willful altruism, the community very quickly accomplished a massive task which greatly benefited the area both economically (a beautiful store tends to draw more customers) and socially (people from the area developed relationships with one another, having fun and working in the process). But the greatest contributing factor as to why so many people came out to help garden was the deeply engrained social pressure every Japanese person feels. None of these individuals received payment for their work, but they nonetheless all contributed to an impure public good for the betterment of their community. An excellent example of a social cost/benefit motivating people to positive action.
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When I read your post, Seth, I thought of the influence of social pressure on voting patterns. According to our model of voting, social pressure/uniformity should increase voter turnout. I decided to test that hypothesis in Japan's case. I would expect for voter turnout to be higher in Japan than in the U.S. because of higher social pressure.
An article I found online (first link below) shows that Japan's voter turnout (2014) is actually lower than voter turnout in the U.S (2016). 52% of Japan's voting age population voted, compared to 55.7% of Americans. Interestingly, that relationship inverted sometime between 2004 and 2016. According to a second source from the early 2000's, Japan had a 10% edge over the U.S. in voter turnout in 2004 (67.5% and 56.2% respectively).
I wonder why this relationship doesn't reflect our hypothesis? Why, as well, has Japan's turnout dropped significantly in the last decade? I have a few ideas I haven't explored-- for example, that Japanese voters and non-voters aren't as distinguished as in the U.S., that voting costs differ between the countries, that Japan has a higher proportion of urban voters, or that the decrease comes from an apathetic or less connected younger generation.
Our combined work seems to show that social pressure, while it is a factor in voting, is not the only determinant of turnout.
2017 article: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/15/u-s-voter-turnout-trails-most-developed-countries/
2004 article: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-plaza/e-sdialogue/03_data/Dr_Richey.pdf
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