Along with the social distinctions there are behavior distinctions. Those who rank themselves as higher than others assume positions of pride and are anything but humble. It is they who “return railing for railing.” This “railing” is “Clamoring with insulting language; uttering reproachful words: Expressing reproach; insulting; as a railing accusation. ( 2 Peter 2) (An American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, electronic edition, © 1998 Deseret Book Company. All rights reserved.)
When two people assume that they are of equal status, they may rail against another, but they other will rail in return. This cannot happen in situations of social differentiation into higher and lower. If a person of higher status should rail against one of lower status, the person of lower status is required by social convention to accept the “insulting language” without returning it. In Western history, this might be most easily seen with the relationship of nobility to the commoners. The nobility could accuse the commoner, but the commoner had little that could be said against nobility.
To be certain, Mormon is describing the situation of the poorer and therefore lower classes as one of righteous humility, but the situation transcends personal humility and becomes institutionalized humility. The lack of response from the lower class is not an indication of lack of reason to respond, but the lack of personal value as compared to the one of higher status. This is the danger of the social hierarchies, where two people who are equal in the site of God become so dramatically and unfairly unequal in the eyes of society, a society dominated by those of higher status who continue to define the rules of society in their own favor.