enter the NFL, MLB, NBA & Netflix + cheap flat screen televisions.
With the lack of community and the focus on individual and the self, people will not be fulfilled if they know someone else is doing so much better.
It's the classic monkey experiment with cucumbers. If all monkeys get cucumbers, they are all okay with it. If one monkey gets a cherry while the other gets a cucumber, the cucumber monkey feels it's unfair and gets angry.
You can keep humans in shitty conditions if they believe in something bigger than themselves. That the shitty conditions are justified and therefore fair.