Being hypocritical is a survival skill inherent in the human race. In the beginning, if you had a ruler or leader that held the power of life and death, you had to tell them what they wanted to hear, and do what you had to do for the day-to-day survival of you and yours. It’s part of human makeup.
I think in some ways Western society is less hypocritical then before because of all the media. It’s a lot harder for anyone of prominence to say one thing and do another than ever in modern history. I think we see more hypocrisy because more of it’s called out. In a society where the media are effectively controlled by a few leaders, hypocrisy is endemic because they can say one thing, do the other, then report the results as they report best.