It was a system of fealty -- mutual obligations with a definite asymmetry in power relationships. There was formal loyalty, but it was usually very calculated. That aspect has been taken over by lawyers and employment contracts in our societies but the asymmetric power relationships remain. The real change is from one in which everyone had presumed universal rights under the laws of one's state to one in which one's rights are contingent on the contract and one in which one's loyalty was to the state has been superseded by loyalty to the corporation - often transnational in nature. There are no longer a large number of potential employers and they all have access to far more information about the individual than was previously the case.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."