I really like what you are saying here. We seemed to have created a complex system where the working class are forced to work more with less security. But still they have a feeling of freedom and wealth because of the things they can buy and the new technology.

I think that this might be a more recent phenomenon. When I look at the situation a century to fifty years ago a single worker would earn enough to provide for a family and was encouraged to buy a small house. So there was more and more free time and the family became owners.
Living standards were lower then, but I have the feeling that this system gave more security to the family, because over time they became less dependent of the company they worked for. The next generation benefited a lot from this gaining of ownership and free time that was generated. I have the feeling that the last decades we turned away from this idea.