Lot of effort was spent to naturalize the current state of affairs and value system, even if there is nothing natural and obvious about it. Humans for millennia have lived with much higher political and social flexibility, with hierarchies built and teared down even seasonally, or with role of property and wealth shifting back and forth.

Of course the structure exists because we allow it, that's the easy part. Hard part is - why do we allow it?

I think in part because we have a black hole in our chest, and we are searching for ways to fill it. We attempt to fill it through worship at the altar of materialism, celebrity, etc. We are doing this to quiet the roar from the black hole. Actually stepping away would require us to sit with stillness, and then to forge a new path, a new life. It's frightening.