That's an interesting concept to think about, especially because of its complexity!
In Mauritius, it's never been harder to move between these different classes. Not because people can't, but because the gap widening at the same time seems even further when you reach one boundary. Yet people never got rid of the "do or die" spirit, and I must say that's commendable. We've always been a tight economy, small in essence, where you either got to prove your capacities if you're amongst the elite, or you've got enough "contacts". Moving between the classes, the higher way of course, has never been a problem if you've been closely related to anyone from or after an MP!
On the other hand, I think it's becoming tougher to cross these mostly because a petty certificate equates to almost nothing these days. You've got to be smart, striking and extremely flexible. You've got to know you're the best of the lot, and be able to prove it once you're taken.
Also, I think moving in between classes is not so easy. Say I win 20 million rupees in a lottery tomorrow, (yeah let's hope! π), I may move up in my account size, but not necessarily in class in society. Class is something that's inculcated in you as soon as you're born, or at last takes up years in having. That's what I feel. A born-prince has certain taught-out mannerisms, diction and different level of behavior that a beggar becoming a millionaire wouldn't, couldn't have at a go! That's the difference people need to recognize. The early 18th century in France stressed a lot on this fact: "the difference between being a "bourgeois" and becoming one!" π
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