In addition, economics plays an interesting role. In developed societies, a large proportion of successful people come from middle class backgrounds. According to an article in the December issue of Hour Magazine, the reason for this is what's known as"status anxiety." Middleclassers tend to have the right level of financial stress a little, but not so much that they feel hopeless. This bit of stress actually helps drive middle classers to improve their status and work extra hard to avoid falling down the socio-economic ladder.