It's quite simple - small property ownership! Those who have a little, a suburban home or a college degree -- for which they mortgaged their soul out -- they are afraid of losing it, and see those below them as their competitors. And above all, they understand that maintaining their 'middle class' status hinges on the benevolence of the ruling class -- for if the boss fires or demotes them -- which he do as he pleases -- gone is their 'American dream.'
The Ethiopian emperor Heile Selassie had a very effective way of enforcing loyalty in the times when his corrupt rule devastated the country and caused wide spread dissent. Each time his spies informed him of disloyalty of a high rinking official, His Majesty would immediately relieve that official of all his duties and privileges, and promote to his position someone from the lowest ranks of the palace bureaucracy.
This simple trick assured a relatively long-lived loyalty of his underlings who understood that their newly acquired status depends *exclusively* on His Majesty's benevolence, and that is they function of their loyalty.
You surely do not expect the nouveau riche "middle class" who are scared as shit of loosing their newly acquired status and suburban homes to critique the system. They ritualistically show their loyalty - the #1 rule of survival in the corporate environment -- by parroting the official ideology and eagerly kicking those below them on the social ladder. This is the mentality aptly described by Adolf Hitler as "responsibility towards above, authority towards below."
Why do you think the corporate media are full of stories fueling the "middle class Angst" (fear of crime, fear of unemployment) amidst economic boom, record-low unemployment and the lowest crime rates in 20 or so years?
When Angst (fear of non-being in Heidegger-speak, or losing the status and cultural identity that constitutes Homo Middle-classicus, I may add) is replaced with popular anger - the days of the ruling elite are usually numbered.
Regards,
Wojtek Sokolowski