We live in a society, not an economy.

While it is true the the economy should not come before the society, the economy should not be neglected because society and the economy are very tightly linked.

One only has to look at a country like Zimbabwe where short term political gains supposedly to improve the society (taking farms from white landholders and giving them to war veterans) has well and truly destroyed the economy.

The Zimbabwe economy was destroyed in a couple of years, but will take decades to recover.