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@hugo7 you're right, it's not one or the other, it's a spectrum. But education surely plays a big role here: Johnson had some of "the best" (at least, the most expensive) education in the world, whereas the character in the story I described had virtually none. We can only know and have the opportunity to learn from what we are taught, if we aren't taught skills about how to interpret lessons from the wider world around us then we quite simply won't do that and will instead believe what we absorb from advertising and media. So I would say Johnson has a lot of responsibility, whereas the character I described has very little.
d0cA
Why is it one or the other?
Being sympathetic to the wider forces that shape people doesn't negate personal responsibility.
Johnson's first male role model was a philanderer which no doubt impacted his ability to sustain monogamous relationships. Boarding at a relatively young age at Ashdown House and then Eton, particularly in the era he did, no doubt impacted his ability to develop empathy.
Does that evaporate all of his personal responsibility in those areas?