What the military seems to do is to draw a line down the middle of the workforce and decide that part of it is such a vastly superior human being to the other half that it would be demeaning to even socialise together. This comes off as institutionalised snobbery.
Just because you have a Commission does not automatically confer any other rights or make you a superior human being and frankly any officer that considers themselves to be such really has missed the point of holding a Commission.
At the end of the day, all 3 Armed Forces are fighting forces whose aim is to defend the country and its interests, if necessary through the application of violence. To do that effectively requires, amongst other things, discipline and potentially a degree of objective detachment. We work hard and we play hard, but for the most part we play hard amongst our own ranks which allows officers, SNCOs and juniors the freedom to do what they want, when they want (all within the rules of course) without feeling as though they are constantly being watched or on parade. Doing so helps maintain degree credibility by not having all your social mistakes and outbursts on show leading to a potential loss of professional confidence.
Additionally, maintaining a sense of social detachment also helps you to make those difficult decisions, such as sending someone out to what could well be their death. It's much harder to take those difficult but necessary decisions if you are compromised by personal relationships. So by all means, we should socialise across the ranks - it's all part of getting to know each other, understanding what makes each other tick, and generally making for a more pleasant working environment. But to over do it risks professional compromise and that is one reason officers, NCOs and juniors are segregated; it helps maintain discipline and professionalism in a job that has very little comparison in civvie street where there may well be more vertical social mixing. Whilst it may have had social connotations way back when, it has nothing to do with officers being superior human beings and everything to do with maintaining professional standards, discipline and effective military capability.
Try telling that to some of the wives though and they would never believe it
