This is going to sound corny, but let’s assume that after basic needs are met, what we really want is love. Social scientists can dress up the word love as “social status” or what have you, but what status gets us in the end is love.
Why am I harping on about love? Well, somebody has to.
Meanwhile, the way that our society is structured, the place where we get and give our love is within our relationships with corporations. Corporations give us love in the form of energy and stuff (and status). We give them love in the form of time (sometimes represented as money).
We talk a lot about weakening the bond with the corporations–consuming less, working less.
Get less stuff. More sustainable life. The problem is, where does the exchange of love now come from?
From strengthening the bonds that are made so weak by the strength of the corporate bond.
If we strengthened those other bonds, is it possible that we’d automatically find ourselves less inclined to service the stuff for time exchange?