Oh, bingo! Most of the people I know were motivated by dreams of making it rich quick. People did not harbor fantasies of hard work on something you loved--for which you might open your own business-- or doing it better than the company you work for. Rather, they harbored fantasies of quick, fast cash and were completely susceptible to any and every scheme that suggested they could make money without a lot of work.
I have always detested Rainbow and Kirby vacuum cleaner companies because they always preyed on the poorest of poor, it seemed to me. Years ago, I read an early piece of research from Bob Bogdan and a colleague--an ethnography of a Rainbow seminar where people go to learn about how they can b/c Vacuum cleaner sales reps. Sure enough, the whole spiel is about how you only have to sell a few vacuums, get other people to sell for you and move on up the pyramid. I try not to be judgmental, but it's one of the things I have a hard time forgiving people for and for years I had no problem slamming the door in the face of a vacuum clearner sales rep. Then, one day it occured to me that I shouldn't get so upset with people who want to make money without working. Ain't that what any good capitalist aspires too?
I think Vanneman and Canon may have something on this as well....
Kelley
"We live under the Confederacy. We're a podunk bunch of swaggering pious hicks."
--Bruce Sterling