> but we're also not the dystopia that cyberpunk itself depicts. In most cyberpunk media, there is a middle/upper class who have enough money to insulate thems

> but we're also not the dystopia that cyberpunk itself depicts. In most cyberpunk media, there is a middle/upper class who have enough money to insulate themselves from the dystopian hard edge of society. They continue to live in pleasant suburbs or high-rise buildings, they buy everything they need and dutiful follow the rules and stay on the garden paths created by the corporations milking them. The "punks" are those cast out of the garden, because they don't have enough money or because they lost favor with the corporations for some reason. They congregate in the shadows, stealing and hacking to make ends meet because they have no other choice. The people in the comfortable middle class may not even notice these punks existing; their lives are structured to shield them from exposure to the punks.