The society and the people in it are two different things.

As I understand him, our society doe not foster a reasonable set of ethics, and thus people who could just as easily behave well instead do not, as they don't have a strong ethical sense to buttress any natural tendency toward honesty.

His worldview seems based on his view of himself - a good kid at heart who was never given a proper foundation in ethical behavior.

I wonder if he addresses the messy politics of teaching ethics in one of his books.