Several examples of groups or individuals attempting to perpetuate the status quo of social inequality can be seen in To Kill A Mockingbird and Separate But Equal. Fear is the motivating factor that causes these groups or individuals to keep the races separated.
In the movie Separate But Equal you can sense the strong fear that white people have. Whites were afraid that if blacks and whites came together and were considered equal that it would ruin their social status. Whites were considered top of class, while blacks were on the bottom, and they wanted to make sure that it always stayed that way. However, if they allow mixed races to go to school together, and treat everyone equal, then that would mean that blacks and whites would be considered equal. The white people had a status quo of keeping everything the same; they did not want anything to change. They had a strong fear that is the races were considered equal that the blacks would become a higher class than the whites. This would not be possible, since the blacks were at the bottom of the social chain; they would not be able to get above the white's class. The white people weren't thinking about this, their fear was overcoming them. The fears of blacks better than whites.
In the book To Kill A Mockingbird there is the strong belief of any white man over a black man. During the scene of the trial is where you can sense it the most. Mayella Ewell, along with her father, Bob Ewell, both gets on the stand, and says that the black man, Tom Robinson, did it. However, when it is Tom Robinson's turn to the stand he tells the truth and the whole truth, but since he is black he is not believed. During Tom's testimony he states that he felt sorry for Mayella (P.197). When the court hears this they just can not see how a black man can feel sorry for a white woman. The people in the community would not even consider believing him; they all now had the fear that black men were going to take advantage of all their white women.