Not that this is a new idea - when was the term "rat race" coined? - but I imagine that part of the issue is people who are so caught up in their unexamined exp

Not that this is a new idea - when was the term "rat race" coined? - but I imagine that part of the issue is people who are so caught up in their unexamined expectations that they don't have the wherewithal to question them. You then factor in that the examining and decision-making is taken up by people with a lot more money or political influence. Such is the genesis of, say, white flight (and maybe even "manifest destiny"). Doesn't absolve participants of culpability, but helps us to understand the how and a bit of the why.