Yes I also suspect that the monkey had no firm grasp of justice nor any desire to be a little proto-warrior for justice, or a union activist in the making. Still, the self-awareness is intriguing, especially in its apparently negative impact on the ability to institute role diversification. This monkey's thought process extends in some fashion to an awareness of community and its benefits or drawbacks. We generally accept (don't we still?) that many social endeavours, e.g. those epitomized by ant communities, function with no understanding by the members. Here, however, we need to consider the functioning of, say, a small community of monkeys, and the need for one or more to stand guard, facing risks and losing out on feeding time or something else. Most people still believe (I think) that altruism is in appearances only, not a conscience decision?

In other words, with this monkey so self-conscious about keeping up with the Jones's, who or what convinces her to serve the greater goodwhen she's not being fed by keepers? The articles above says that resusal to accept injustice "has been a positive influence in the long-term in the development of human society," but these monkeys showed (possibly irrational) self-interest in conjunction with an awareness of community, not a disdain for inequity.

(Do only male monkeys take guard duty?)