WERE (ARE) UNDERLYING ECONOMIC MOTIVES RECOGNIZED?

YES, BECAUSE PEOPLE INSTINCTIVELY KNOW WHAT REINFORCES RULES OR BREAKS THEM

No, because customs are so engrained as to be invisible. Take a modern practice, buying what one does not need:

       Window at the Galeries Lafayette department store / Richard Nahem

"If I wore my favorite black dress on Tuesday in Cincinatti, I'd  see pictures on social media on Wednesday, and I couldn’t repeat the look in San Diego on Thursday, or people would think I had only one dress."

-- Woman preparing a book tour, New York Times

For women especially, changing outfits every day is a kind of tax. They may do so out of habit, because they like shopping or because if they don't do it, they'll seem to lack the means. 

Very few say, "such purchases give an impression of liberty but in fact are imposed, because the economy depends on them."

The next chapters show how 
social organization and beliefs
corresponded (and still correspond) to tangible needs, 

of which people are usually unaware.

*     *     *

Next,
The explosive effects of the search for profit