It’s the scarily, or appearance thereof, that causes the selfishness in my opinion.
Assuming you mean scarcity, you've almost hit a big nail on the head there - capitalism deliberatelycreatesartificial scarcity, and the belief that it is inevitable (and in a way, it is, when living under a system that aims for infinite growth in a finite world with finite resources), however post-scarcity is already entirely possible today, especially with the growth of automation, if only the worlds resources were managed and distributed with society's well being in mind, instead of profit.
Convincing those of us the greedy and selfish exploit, who are trapped in their system with no way out, that we are in fact the greedy and selfish ones (for wanting our basic needs met, not private jets and mega yachts) who are to blame for all of our, and humanity's, ills, not them, who are literally raking in and hoarding all of the world's resources while being the biggest contributors to its destruction, is one of capitalism's nastiest and most effective lies, because in the world they've created, where greed and selfishness are not only rewarded, but necessary, it's almost impossible to prove wrong.
But it is wrong, and completely unnatural, and a better way of life absolutely is possible, it just requires those with all the power and money to not hold all the power and money anymore, and they'd rather destroy the planet and the rest of us with it, than do that, which means it's up to us to make that choice for them, or go down with them.