Transcendentalism.

Henry David Thoreau's words ooze with undertones of malice for the emerging corporate ethos which he saw to be dominating American culture. Still, in his time, I'm sure he maintained that this emergence was not as all-permeating as it is today. A beautiful chapter of Walden entitled "The Ponds" details all the splendor and beauty of the simple things Nature has to offer anyone with a keen eye. He talks about amenities such as coffee, teas, butter, and how so many people work incredibly hard to be able to purchase things such as these. The key, however, is that he implies how the lives that the masses lead are wasted in trying to acquire material things by toiling day in and day out. He mentions, "But the only true America is that country where you are at liberty to pursue such a mode of life as may enable you to do without these, and where the state does not endeavor to compel you to sustain the slavery and war and other superfluous expenses which directly or indirectly result from the use of such things." I take this to mean that with the propensity to acquire which inevitably grows out of capitalism, Americans still fundamentally have a choice about what kind of life they want to live. You can choose to submit yourself to the capitalist system and "work hard to eat hard," so to speak, or, you could resign from that way of living, just as Thoreau had, and seek fulfillment someplace else. I think he is saying that if you choose to spend your days in a traditional manner which entails finding an occupation to take up your days, endlessly bonded to a cycle of ceaseless work and subsequent consumption, then you may find yourself "enslaved." Still, at the end of the day, you can choose to opt out. I do not think such an option is nearly as easy today as it once may have been. It is unfortunate but the forces of socialization which condition us to submit ourselves to the aforementioned cycle are so incredibly strong that it is not feasible for the common person to withdraw from it and seek a life of fine quality elsewhere. It is not impossible, but it certainly takes strong character.