ABSTRACT
Social pressure to help others can be more or less intense depending on what is expected as the normal standard of conduct. It would seem natural that a culture that emphasizes outward adaptation and conflict avoidance as much as the Viennese does reward non-involvement into others' affairs. Despite the carefully groomed myth that Austria was just a victim of Hitlerite aggression, it is a fact that a large number of Austrians welcomed the annexation by the German Reich. The cultural variety found in contemporary Vienna is a far cry from the kaleidoscopic plurality of cultures prevailing in the Monarchy. An American observer, Nathaniel Parker Wills, compared multinational life in 19th century Vienna to a fancy dressball: Hungarians, Poles, Croats, Jews, Greeks and Turks, all dressed in their national costumes, strolled through the city center. Most in-migrants have been people in search of work.
