Benjamin Disraeli wrote in the mid 1800s of the growing division between the rich and the poor, in a troublesome gap that he viewed as leading to continuous conflicts between these two worlds.  He saw it as enough of a serious problem to write a novel based on the issue. Wikipedia has this entry on the novel:
"Sybil, or The Two Nations is an 1845 novel by Benjamin Disraeli. Published in the same year as Friedrich Engels's The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, Sybil traces the plight of the working classes of England. As the title suggests, Disraeli is interested in dealing with the horrific conditions in which the majority of England's working classes lived — or, what is generally called the Condition of England question. The book is a roman à thèse, or a novel with a thesis — which was meant to create a propagandistic furor over the squalor that was plaguing England's working class cities. Disraeli's novel was made into a silent film called Sybil in 1921, starring Evelyn Brent and Cowley Wright."

What we have been seeing in the world today is a relentless glorification of the rich, with their conspicuous consumption, amidst the throngs of the poor who remain hungry and homeless. This novel is a good read to hone in on the nature of this dilemma.