Things: A Story of the Sixties is a statement on life in the modern world, and what it means for the future of humanity. Since the rise of industrialization, people, globally, have been able to get things faster and cheaper. However, people started to become transfixed on acquiring more of these goods, which, like with Jerome and Sylvie, led to a lifelong obsession.
Perec could not have predicted every detail of the future, nor was he trying to do so. Simply, he was attempting to explain that material objects only make you happy for a while, and then you will need more of them to make you happy again. In this, a cycle was created in which people work boring jobs for them to earn money for things that will un-bore them.
Once Jerome and Sylvie move out of the country and back again, they realize that their own obsession with material objects had no real justification, and began to not care about things. But, doing this, they also lost interest in all aspects of their life - their relationship, their jobs, and their friends, who were still obsessed with things. Though, as they got better paying jobs, they could get more material comfort, they were less likely to be happy, according to Perec.
