You seem to understand my point then... if the poor are\were white the same issues would be observed.

BTW - I have 13+ years in Social Services as well...

Behavior is an interesting thing to observe in social settings... for instance, I have witnessed high class individuals leave social functions if their are lower class individuals present as guests (not servants).

I worked in oncology for over 3 years. We would get high class patients that would complain, some refusing to sit next to a lower class individual who also had cancer.

We would tell them everyone in the room has cancer AND everyone is on the same playing field whether you like it or not, find common ground and make a friend.

There are many other examples I have; I am sure you can come up with some of your own.