Elite colleges have become culturally and organizationally similar—same curricula patterns, amenities, and selection logic—so the professional class now looks and behaves uniformly. That homogenization creates a representation gap between ordinary citizens and those who 'call the shots,' which fuels alienation and populist backlash.
— If true, this explains part of elite–public distrust and suggests reforming higher education diversity (not just viewpoint diversity) to restore political legitimacy and social mobility.