What are the "hidden injuries of class"? What are the long term effects?

This is a pretty big topic. Basically our democratic/ welfare /capitalist system proposes that there is equal opportunity for everyone. There is, supposedly, no discrimination on class, gender, ethnicity....Those who do not succeed are lazy or unworthy of success. The problems lie in the fact there in a massive socio-economic inequality to begin with in places like America and the UK. This inequality makes it virtually impossible for the bottom 3rd of the population to attain the kind of success people born into money already have. The old American ethos of "just pull up your bootstraps" simply doesn't work when a single mother is working three jobs to feed her family. The long term effects are further class alienation and deeper socio-economic divisions.