Here is the effect of the Gadianton rulership. The social segregation has been established, and the non-elite are left out of the chain of acquisition. As the proponents of a more egalitarian ideal, the members of the church naturally were not strong participators in this quest for acquisition of sumptuous goods, and therefore they automatically fall to a lower rung on the social ladder since it is the visible display of these goods that is used to mark social order. The distinctions in social order create “rich” and “poor” along the definitions of the newly powerful, and of course they would shun the “followers of God” who did not have such displays – or care to. This verse is the natural outgrowth of the alteration of the social structure among the Nephites.