Society change

[LordStark]

I've read all the Asoiaf books and I'm currently reading a knight of the seven kingdoms (the hedge knight). I just wanted to know why were people so different. I know 100 years has passed but society seems to have changed an awful lot. Knights in the hedge knight seem to want to help people and are generally decent but in asoiaf people just always seem to be looking out for themselves. I know the war of the five kings may have changed this but I still feel this was evident before the war broke out. 

[RumHam]

I've read all the Asoiaf books and I'm currently reading a knight of the seven kingdoms (the hedge knight). I just wanted to know why were people so different. I know 100 years has passed but society seems to have changed an awful lot. Knights in the hedge knight seem to want to help people and are generally decent but in asoiaf people just always seem to be looking out for themselves. I know the war of the five kings may have changed this but I still feel this was evident before the war broke out. 

I think there are some bad knights in The Hedge Knight. Aerion, for one. Plus that Fossoway who switches sides. Also just think of all the people who wouldn't answer Dunk's call for help, even though they had to know what Aerion was. Generally people are a lot nicer when they're comfortable and everything is going well. So you don't see that many instances of horrible behavior at a tournament. Whereas in the main series things have been going badly. 

You'll see more examples of selfish knights as you read the next two stories. I'd imagine things will get even worse if we ever get a Dunk & Egg story set in winter.

[Ser Lepus]

The people in the Egg & Dunk tales come from a different social strata. Most go from hedge knights to lesser nobility. And as somebody said, they are living during a more stable, peaceful and prosperous period. They are more free to do what they want, to help their friends and to walk away from people they dislike.

In the ASOIAF, the people we read about tend to be either the outcasts (bandits, wildlings, prostitutes, criminals...etc.), or the upper nobility (what is more, these are the survivors of civil wars, betrayal, intrigues and the like). Both extremes live in an enviroment in which backstabbing, fierce competition and selfishness are expected, and they can't walk away from it.