At least in fields like farming and construction, there is an inner pressure to do skilled work, or to do something essential which is respected. The skilled work is then supported by low skill manual labor, which due to its indispensability and commonality, is an area where workers are constantly pushed towards, especially in larger organizations where there are greater sums that hinge upon the successful completion of high skill tasks.
The high skill tasks, by their nature tend to be high stakes and exclusive. It takes time, energy, and the propensity for risk and the successful navigation of risk to rise in an essential skill. Much like a developing industrial country must be protected by tariffs, individuals learning valuable technical skills must be subsidized in some way, such as being protected by mentors and sympathetic management in a private organization, or by learning and practicing in a trade school or another type of protected environment, which is today increasingly correlated with at least a minimum of a starting cushion of wealth, or those valuable opportunities derided as handouts.
Those weakened in some way - at least in relation to the material interests at hand - whether by attention spans, past traumas, physical limitations, age, gender, or whatever else, tend to be vulnerable to being pigeonholed into some low-respect and low-stakes support role.
There is a constant struggle towards skill and respect, and a constant downward pressure into low skill and physically taxing activities that are largely taken for granted and disrespected. The alternative is to be pushed into idleness as one waits for others to complete their tasks, engendering guilt and stress upon not working, which is largely unavoidable as various labor processes reach bottlenecks.
The ideal is a process in which everyone is in constant circulation, engaging in tasks of relative skill and respect, rising where they can and deferring where they cannot.
