We ask our children what they want to be when they grow up, not who.
Arendt divides our lives into three parts: Labour (food, a place to sleep, health; the bare essentials), work (production of cultural artefacts) and action (active engagement in our community; how we imbue our cultural artefacts with meaning).
The enlightenment by putting a veil on the political aspect of our lives, dehumanises people, puts the focus on the economic. People get their sense of identity not from their political actions anymore but their job and the public economy. People being cogs without active engagement in their societies are prone to dictatorships.