Karl Marx has this theory of social alienation that proposes idea that in a capitalist system-much like the 24-hour consumer fest we Americans find ourselves bogged down in-the lower rungs of the class-war ladder are pressured into conformity by those who own the means of production and that's why we work shitty jobs, put up with bullshit labor requirements and grin and bare the monotonous taste of coffee and ever-increasing weight of the daily grind.
