I have mixed feelings about this. Social contract theory has some really strong arguments and there’s convincing reasons why it’s ok to accept the reality/society we are born into as a norm and operate as a member of it (the so-called conventional modes of work-life). The post-modernist in me agrees with your sentiment and thinks the moral thing to do is to reject that position and create the work-life situation I believe to be the most moral. But these two ideas are at odds with each other and I’ve argued both sides to exhaustion, seeing the merits of each. (Which has only recently been illuminated to me after living in two areas of the US that exist at completely opposite ends of the political spectrum) As with most things, a nuanced balance between the two is most likely the most suitable, and also the most difficult.

I reject the consumerist world I was born into, but if my life is dedicated to a fundamentally dissatisfied philosophy about the nature of the world, I’m destined to unhappiness. Do we choose unhappiness and progress, or happiness and stagnation? A balance, of course.