I contend that the rat race exists not because of collective delusion but because of basic economics.
I want:
1. to have a family
2. to provide security for my family
3. to provide a reasonable education/upbringing for my family
All of these things are becoming more expensive if you take the traditional route.
The Fed is aware that in today's 'cancel culture' a lot of public outcry that finally realizes the Fed's activities weaken it's future if political will becomes too strong. Thus it needs something to 'point to' for those whose brains freeze up when 'numbers' are involved.
With a lot of young people opting out of having kids and trying to find their own way in life, it would make sense that the anti-work and anti-hustler culture is much more prevalent in younger people (millenials being first). Its a generational shift first of all driven by oncoming climate disaster due to over population and will be felt through wars and hungers. Why should young people contribute to such a society and create more suffering in the process.
I am not an anti-natalist, but if we start talking multi-generational that's what it comes down to
I think it's a combination of delusion and basic economics, with a huge pinch of cultural heritage.
Almost everyone in the tech industry is constantly bemoaning how many open many open positions they have and how hard it is to hire people.
Doesn't seem very zero-sum to me - unless you want to become CTO at Facebook or something.
This may be less clear in tech and for us cause the boom times have been very good, but imagine a scenario like the big company in your small town is hiring, and that's your path to potentially a steady income. You don't know when they are hiring again, and your town's opportunities are limited.
In any case the idea that there aren't zero sum competitions in life (another example is competing for a certain romantic partner, something I didn't even mention which i realize is implicitly perhaps behind a lot of this among young people) is a myth that a lot of people push because they simply don't like competition and competing I think. Not only are there zero sum or approximately zero sum games in life, they are among the most impactful ones.
What you're describing is modern day insanity.
It's telling that conservative groups that rail against the sins of lust, gluttony, sloth, and envy usually leave out pride, greed, and wrath.