Ironically, one of the books that shaped my ideas on topics like this early on was the fictional 'The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism' by Emmanuel Goldstein in '1984.' Orwell's perspective as a dissident socialist is very unique and made for a lot of nuance. This is one of the places where it shines through, in my opinion.
In any case, in 1984-world there is an exam for moving the most talented of the middle classes into the upper class and least talented of the upper class to the middle. I think Orwell's thinking here was a 'keep the dangerous ones on the inside" strategy. But, I think there's another mechanism at work. Release valves and the creation of ambiguity.
A member of the underclass with undeniable talent and force of will is very dangerous to the order of things. If there are several of them pushing hard against a glass ceiling then pressure builds up. It also becomes very obvious the the ceiling exists. That's where Malcolm Xs come from.
Malcolm X recalls in his autobiography about an incident where he told his teacher he wanted to become a lawyer. The teacher responds that this is "not a realistic goal for a nigger". If he had become a lawyer he might have become one of the (as he saw it) one of those despicable, integration seeking middle class negroes. Blue pills.
Hitting a hard ceiling made the existence of the ceiling undeniable and the incredible force of his personality had no other outlet than pushing against this impenetrable ceiling.
I don't know if how obvious it was at the time that Malcolm X had the potential in him that he obviously exhibited as an adult. But let's imagine that the 12 year old Malcolm X was a 12 year old version of the 35 year old Malcolm X. A system that embraces that kid, makes him a lawyer. Gives him an outlet whiten it and celebrates him as an example of crossing class barriers or even proof for the non existence of those barriers is a more robust system.
BTW, I think it's wrong to read 1984 as a description of a conspiracy. The conspiracy is more of a metaphor, a way of easily explaining how things work. In reality, societies are memoplexes, evolved. To paraphrase Douglas Adams. "A memoplex that survives is a memoplex that survives." They are made up of surviving memes. Memes preventing class movement entirely are likely to bring down the memoplex. I think airtight class distinctions (such as a system of race based slavery) are fundamentally unstable for this reason.
There are interesting datapoints in accounts of ancient slavery. The Hebrew Bible describes a system of slavery with ways out existing in the ancient Middle east. Earning freedom. Sabbatical amnesties. Jacob came to Egypt as a slave. He rose to become a sort of chancellor to the Pharaoh. Ancient Greek & Roman systems of slavery had ways for exceptional slaves to earn freedom or even rise in rank within the institution of slavery. If Spatacus' leadership abilities had caused him to be ejected from slavery, his uprising would never have happened. He might have been a general enslaving barbarians and contributing gainfully to the system.
In any case, in 1984-world there is an exam for moving the most talented of the middle classes into the upper class and least talented of the upper class to the middle. I think Orwell's thinking here was a 'keep the dangerous ones on the inside" strategy. But, I think there's another mechanism at work. Release valves and the creation of ambiguity.
A member of the underclass with undeniable talent and force of will is very dangerous to the order of things. If there are several of them pushing hard against a glass ceiling then pressure builds up. It also becomes very obvious the the ceiling exists. That's where Malcolm Xs come from.
Malcolm X recalls in his autobiography about an incident where he told his teacher he wanted to become a lawyer. The teacher responds that this is "not a realistic goal for a nigger". If he had become a lawyer he might have become one of the (as he saw it) one of those despicable, integration seeking middle class negroes. Blue pills.
Hitting a hard ceiling made the existence of the ceiling undeniable and the incredible force of his personality had no other outlet than pushing against this impenetrable ceiling.
I don't know if how obvious it was at the time that Malcolm X had the potential in him that he obviously exhibited as an adult. But let's imagine that the 12 year old Malcolm X was a 12 year old version of the 35 year old Malcolm X. A system that embraces that kid, makes him a lawyer. Gives him an outlet whiten it and celebrates him as an example of crossing class barriers or even proof for the non existence of those barriers is a more robust system.
BTW, I think it's wrong to read 1984 as a description of a conspiracy. The conspiracy is more of a metaphor, a way of easily explaining how things work. In reality, societies are memoplexes, evolved. To paraphrase Douglas Adams. "A memoplex that survives is a memoplex that survives." They are made up of surviving memes. Memes preventing class movement entirely are likely to bring down the memoplex. I think airtight class distinctions (such as a system of race based slavery) are fundamentally unstable for this reason.
There are interesting datapoints in accounts of ancient slavery. The Hebrew Bible describes a system of slavery with ways out existing in the ancient Middle east. Earning freedom. Sabbatical amnesties. Jacob came to Egypt as a slave. He rose to become a sort of chancellor to the Pharaoh. Ancient Greek & Roman systems of slavery had ways for exceptional slaves to earn freedom or even rise in rank within the institution of slavery. If Spatacus' leadership abilities had caused him to be ejected from slavery, his uprising would never have happened. He might have been a general enslaving barbarians and contributing gainfully to the system.