"It is as if our cornucopia has, through its very abundance,
robbed human beings of their human dimension. It has placed
such emphasis on the economic roles people play that is has
reduced them to the sum of the jobs they do, plus the things
they consume. This, in turn, acts as a spur, for what happens to
a person without a job or one who cannot consume the right
things in sufficient quantity to gain him some respect?
-David Maybury-Lewis
