Where there is great inequality there is always great repression. People do not accept exploitation and injustice easily. As the income gap grows, so do the police and military forces that protect the status quo. Many movements exist to try to reform capitalism. They can win important gains.
Workers can improve their conditions if they unite and organize.
Progressive laws against racism and sexism and environmental degradation can get passed if there is mass action and resistance. But as long as the capitalist class remains in power, these gains can be reversed, too. Let the movement slacken and all the old crap comes back. And that has happened, partly because many in the movement have relied on the Democratic Party to defend and extend the reforms won by militant mass struggle in the 1960s and 1970s. But that didn't happen.