Schoeck's study of envy in primitive societies yields surprising insights powerfully supportive of both capitalism and Christianity. This theme of Christianity's role in advancing civilization by opposing envy makes Schoeck's work especially valuable for religious scholars and clergy. Schoeck rejects the damnation of luxury popular in some religious and political circles as an envy-minded anachronism. As soon as there is real economic growth, and the technology to produce any item in as many copies as there is a demand for it, covetousness and acquisitiveness, as terms of social criticism, lack any real meaning. Unfortunately, several forces in modern life are turning envy loose.
Politicians find pandering to envy a tempting path to power.
Egalitarian and socialist theories appeal to envy and give it intellectual legitimacy. And since World War II, social sanctions against envy have crumbled. This public self-justification of envy is something entirely new. In this sense it is possible to speak of an age of envy. Most attempts at constructing a socialist or egalitarian utopia, Schoeck argues, seek to remove envy's evil effects by removing its targets, so that the envious have nothing to envy.