When society began treating people as an exploitable resource.

Mine turned into that when it stopped paying enough to provide me with basic needs.

If it's fuck me, then it's fuck all y'all too.

When they started treating employees and disposable cogs to be exploited.

The exact moment the employer only cared about money and not its employees or contributions to the society.

Executives used to be stewards of the company. They took care of brand, and people.

Then we switched to a bottom line focus. Now, profit, stock prices are the only thing that matters.

Shortcuts, layoffs, benefit cuts, etc are the only way to offset not making continuous market growth, and still rack ridiculous profits.

Also, great deal of Americans started not giving a shit about where the product comes from or who makes it. We want the cheapest thing, fast. Just has been our personal priorities.

There's not much incentive for a company to consider it's corporate image, contributions to community and public, etc.

I'd say that's when.

When capitalism. That’s when.

Edit: to clarify, it wasn’t much better before capitalism. But it was less all-encompassing. Feudalism was a shitty structure, worse even than capitalism tbh. But it was much easier to escape it. Not just in the “survivalist hippie camp” that still exists now. But even in everyday life. The system wasn’t shaping every facet of human existence. Only production relations (which is the big one yes). But capitalism has shaped everything around us. Our places of work, sure, but our personal lives. Our inner lives. Everything has been commodified. Mental health, religion, wellness, friendships, love and relationships, families, sickness, children etc. etc. etc… That is the main reason capitalism is worse than anything before it. No other system had the capacity to destroy the planet. None. To destroy all life in it. All in the name of profit. An immaterial, formless concept. Not even a real thing. And there’s not much we can do it seems. I mean there is, and I think it’s pretty clear. But I bet even that gets commodified soon. Bring on the politicians/capitalists death match reality game shows I guess…

Man we’ve lost something along the way. When did our jobs become purely a means of money and contributing nothing to society.

This mythic past where our jobs meant "more than money" and we "contributed to society" never existed anywhere

Probably around the time they took away pensions