Consider Test society, where an elite profits from slave labor and their quality of life depends on that profit. Then automation makes human labor obsolete. What profit is it to the elite to harm their former slaves? Would not their now unlimited profits be greater than their profits from slaves before?
What they exert and spend on harming the former slaves not only profits them nothing, it costs them quality of life they could purchase with what they will spend on harming the slaves.
In the real world things are much more complex, but there is far more incentive to the elite to spend on their quality of life rather than harming former slaves.
As the paradigm shifts destroying the future for 'commoners' decreases the quality of life of the 'elite'. Playing nice pays best.