Is there one (or a few) book(s)/article(s) that shaped your view on this (most of all the wealth, identity, drama triad)? I'd be interested in reading them.
"The Century of the Self" (BBC documentary by Adam Curtis) is a good start. It discusses the Self(image), nationalism, (mass)psychology and much, much more. http://vimeo.com/87419450
Then make sure you watch "Human Resources" to see how manipulated and unknowingly controlled most of Human society is.
Found it. "The driving force in society is not love, but fear". It's on Youtube, but it's from this site: http://metanoia-films.org/films/