I don't tend to see Europe as egalitarian. I think it's more equal below a certain point, but there also seems to be a glass ceiling above which status tends to be inherited and class mobility is much harder than in the USA. It looks to me like an aristocratic society whose peasantry is held at something more like a developed middle class level rather than a subsistence level. It's a much more comfortable peasantry but it's still a peasantry in that a peasant will never become a member of the elite (or rather it's much harder for this to happen).
That's how it looks to me, but it's not necessarily reflected in the statistics:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/social-mo...
Canada is, for example, supposedly more mobile than the US, yet when I look at Canada I see a country with absolutely insane real estate prices (relative to median income) in most major cities (worse than most of the US outside SF and maybe NYC) and much lower salaries for professional jobs like engineering. I really wonder how that comes up as having better mobility. It might be harder to end up in the gutter in Canada, but it also seems like it's much harder to rise above working to middle class due to high housing costs, high taxes, and structurally low salaries.
Maybe someone from Canada or Europe can correct me -- if salaries are so much lower and costs are high, how can someone accumulate enough wealth to accomplish class mobility for themselves or their children?
Don't get me wrong -- I think some things are better in Europe. I think the parliamentary system is mostly better than our winner take all two-party duopoly tire fire, for example.
