Dopamine. We market excitement and adventure to children like sugar (along with sugar, which is what's actually being sold a lot of the time), then most of them get into the workforce and discover that most jobs are bullshit and while the political system is nominally a democracy, most corporations and public institutions are authoritarian dictatorships. Some people accept this and can be bought off with holidays or being consumers, more intelligent ones who can't can be redirected into being angry at Those People.