I can somehow relate to your comment about the social gap as I have been living in the Philippines in the last year. I observe the huge gap between the rich and the poor, and the exclusivity of the rich (social life, education, work, etc).
To some degree, I can understand that the gap was created for security reasons by the rich, but to some degree it seems like it was “designed” to be that way, to keep the rich wealthy and the poor broke, at least that is what it looks like to some of us foreigners living here.