The story is set in a fictional 'Argoland'. All citizens in Argoland are divided into 7 social classes (numbered from 0 to 6) based on their IQ. 'Zeroes' are the top, governing class. The class of a citizen determines what job he gets, and his pay ('red, green and yellow points'). Only people with class between 0 and 4 get any jobs, any promotion is depending on the class more than achievement. This is further true because the economy seems to be centrally controlled government run socialism, that is private property is limited and small private enterprises operate only on the fringes of the general economy.