It is rooted in the belief that work can provide everything we have historically expected from organized religion: community, meaning, self-actualization. In t

It is rooted in the belief that work can provide everything we have historically expected from organized religion: community, meaning, self-actualization. In the US, a lot of benefits, like healthcare coverage and retirement benefits, are tied to employment. This is not equally true in all countries and helps fuel an obsession with work. Later in the piece, it mentions work as rating above traditional values like patriotism and marriage. Historically, marriage was largely about survival. It was an economic arrangement and people were much less romantic about it than today. Nationalism has also been blamed as a root cause of wars Historically. With regional governing bodies emerging, such as the EU and ASEAN, we may be on our way towards a world government, but emergent rather than in a top down fashion.