How often do the different Races inter-mingle with each other?

[Berethos]

...and yet I still stand by my words.

That they haven't gone hardline on portraying racism so they don't hurt the feelings of people playing catgirls? I guess I can understand standing by those words, since they make for a nice easy target for criticism. Certainly easier than just standing by your own conclusions, have to insult others as if that some how reinforced your argument (pro tip, it doesn't).

As for Ishgard, the poor pushing against the upper crust of society that has been stepping on them isn't exactly modern...unless we stretch modem back to at least 1789. Also we often interact with non-antagonist characters that occupy more of a middle ground between full on disdain for the other class and full on "P.C." acceptance.

Plus there's the background world building stuff, which is neither protagonist our antagonist, just showing how things currently are in Ishgard (and the other city-states).