The data on this is clear: people who live in highly unequal societies are more likely to shop for luxury brands than people who live in more equal societies.21 We keep buying more stuff in order to feel better about ourselves, but it never works because the benchmark against which we measure the good life is pushed perpetually out of reach by the

Consumer society promotes neediness as normal—there is always something new to buy that will at last put a satisfied smile on your face. Thus, a normal life is actually a life of lack desperately and constantly trying to fill a black hole that will never be filled. When you are needy, fulfillment is unattainable.