These aren't mutually exclusive. It's like saying "I think a huge part of the desire for fashionable clothing isn't even fashion, but the fear of being ostracized or left behind by one's social circle." A natural source of fear and uncertainty is stoked by people who find opportunity to make a buck off it.

"The American Way of Death" is a good book to read in that vein, although it's about the pointless, blindingly expensive ostentation of US burial rituals. The book was very successful and well-regarded; didn't change a thing.