&quot;there’s ample evidence of the professional class using its economic and educational capital to preserve its advantages&quot;<p>i do think that this is a part of it. degrees and certifications are largely an exercise in compliance. that&#x27;s not to say they aren&#x27;t hard work, but that hard work is often busy work. what makes it hard is that it&#x27;s not interesting nor informative and thus is kryptonite to the intellectually curious.<p>people who have spent considerably and pushed through that menial task of compliance have bought into the system that tells them that they are now more useful to society and, therefore, deserve elevated status in our cultural and literal hierarchies.<p>part of left-leaning ideology is a belief that the smart and well-educated (the intelligensia) are better able to make decisions for the body politic than the chaotic &quot;invisible hands&quot; of various complex systems left to their own devices.<p>with that in mind, the question can be re-phrased &quot;why are people who have spent a large amount of time and money to increase the perception of their own value to society more willing to give authority and power over to those who spend a large amount of time and money to increase the perception of their own value to society?&quot;