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Notes -
At first blush this sounds like you're describing class mobility. In a society with high class mobility, a laborer who makes good decisions will receive that benefit and has the potential to rise, and likewise an elite who makes poor decisions will faces the consequences and fall. Societies with low class mobility prevent consequences for elites and offer limited opportunities to laborers. Likewise, a larger middle class implies higher class mobility.
The war between slaves and free men only takes place when there's an actual distinction, a wall between the two groups that can't be climbed. That's why we haven't had class war in the US. But with the younger generation rejecting the American mythology of class mobility, that war is looking more likely.
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