Social Stratification: Winners and Losers

The New Class System

Tourism creates hierarchies:

Winners

• Property owners with rentals
• Business owners in prime locations
• Multilingual skilled workers
• Early adapters to tourism

Losers

• Renters facing displacement
• Traditional businesses unsuited for tourists
• Monolingual older residents
• Late arrivals to communities

The Squeezed Middle

• Essential workers priced out
• Young families unable to afford homes
• Small businesses competing with chains
• Cultural practitioners marginalized

Teacher Catherine commutes 45 minutes: "I teach in Saint-Tropez but could never afford to live there. My students are either wealthy newcomers' children or the few remaining local families hanging on. The middle disappeared."