Thus the free market tends to discourage irrational discrimination—that is, discrimination not based on objective considerations of productivity—against members of class C. Even if backward attitudes pervade in most of society, creating pockets of discrimination, the competitive system will create opportunities elsewhere for persons in class C, provided that the profit-oriented market is allowed to operate unimpeded. In this respect, the market is generally far more progressive than political institutions and legislation, since in a government based on popular representation laws protecting individuals in class C could not be passed until egalitarian attitudes became sufficiently widespread to constitute a legislative majority. In addition, collectivist attitudes, such as those represented by prejudice against class-C persons, are fundamentally incompatible with the individualist, rational-egoist ethic promoted by a free market.

Of course, discrimination may continue to flourish in an interventionist system where market success is frequently tied to political favors rather than free-market forces, or where anti-C attitudes are institutionalized in the government's own enterprises, such as schools or transportation systems.