Greed and materialism
Overview
One of the strongest animal natures humans have is greed, the desire to accumulate and to value things we possess more than our kindness to others and what we create.
The quest for accumulation is woven into almost every aspect of modern society and in times of stability does not make people happy.
Like all animal natures humans can be raised to not be greedy, almost all religions reject greed and materialism as core precepts.
State sanctioned inequality
Leaders over history have supported social controls such as religions that reject greed because those in power want the population to have and crave for little.
The new paradigm
With peoples commitment to traditional religions faltering, modern society now encourages greed and materialism as a way to keep the population powerless. If goal of most of the population is to achieve meaningless things they are too busy to revolt.
Personal relationships
Entering into a defined relationship with another person is a possessive act, whether a sexual partner or through marriage, it is a way of saying this person now belongs to me. In the case of marriage this can be possession that is hard to escape from.