ABSTRACT
The values promoted by consumer capitalism are often the polar opposites of those taught by the world’s great traditions. The epitome of this inversion is found in the contemporary airline industry. This sector has become exceptionally proficient at imbuing its services with petty class divisions that are guaranteed to make one feel uncomfortable, wherever one stands in the pecking order. At the lower end, it manifests as a sense of inferiority, at the upper end as an unsavoury feeling of precarious superiority.
