I do not think it is just following demagogy. People "do the dirty work for the haves" not because they are bamboozled, but because they obtain some emotional gratification from it. It is like medieval mobs cheering a public execution of one of their own.
I am tempted to conjecture that this "responsibility toward above, authority toward below" attitude is hard wired in the brains of a great number if not most people. Bashing those "below" gives them a form of katarsis for them. Wojtek ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let's not leave out that historically in the US it has also given them a bit more ching ching in their pockets. I don't quite know what you mean by hard wired, but if you mean ingrained through socialization, I can agree with it.
Brad