What are the consequences of moving from underground mining to surface mining?

The consequences are increased land degradation, increased water and air pollution, and changes to the landscape

When you mine the land, you ruin its consistency and quality. Surface mining is especially bad because air gets polluted since large amounts of contaminating particles are released into the air through constant digging and rock breaking and similar things. Landscape is also changed because holes and plateaus start popping everywhere.

The answer is society was a caste like system with poor whites at the bottom of the white social ladder.