The capitalist framework of class relations does not control the social and cultural processes which are increasingly shaped by knowledge, media, civil society agents, political parties and family, leading to confusion or loss of meanings.

There is no going back to socialism although there is still an appeal of it left among certain classes of people who are excluded from the cognitive system of capitalism. Socialism believed in the two class model of capitalism in which accumulation of capital and development of productive forces have ended all differences amongst the workers, and the workers have understood that their interests can be protected only by destroying the capitalist relations (i.e., by collectivizing the means of production). This model is nowhere near the reality of new capitalism.

In terms of ideas of perfect order or harmonious living there is not going to be any consensus anymore in the media, in the academics or in the political spheres. Religion which was supposed to have declined under forces of development and modernization has a new avatar. The irrational in life and society is more vivid and seems to have been well accepted.

Happiness is no more expressed primarily in developmentalist terms, i.e., in terms of improvement in standard of living. It is more associated with resolution to deal with hazards of development, such as environmental pollution, deskilling, unemployment, threat of nuclear disasters and climate change.

This is true that there are a large number of people who are frustrated on account of lack of capital, lack of work and lack of skills. Nevertheless, among them work and employment is not the necessary and sufficient condition of happiness. They too want a higher level of consumption, a higher status and a meaningful participation in society. They look simultaneously for subsistence and meaningful life. They want development but they too are aware of the connection between a generalized desire for development and the undesirable consequences of development for their groups or classes.