Why do people fail to act?

After reading “The Lottery,” “The Milgram Experiment,” “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” and “Jonestown,” analyze the actions or inactions of the characters in “The Lottery” and consider why they failed to act.  Question and find, through research, why Shirley Jackson wrote this story.  Then, please compare this tradition with a tradition from your own life that you do not like.  Make three points, your own tradition being one of them.