For those who would like a book recommendation, that explores reading history through this lens, take a bit and read Rutger Bregman's "Humankind: A Hopeful History" https://archive.org/details/humankindahopefu0000breg
The author dives in deep on why the Lord of the Flies trope is so persistent and why people believe it more, the richer they are. TLDR: dopamine is a hell of a drug.