I don’t believe masters have better or worse social skills than other players. They are outliers and receive extra attention because of that fact. Many players who are not masters devote themselves to studying chess and playing in tournaments, online, or by correspondence. A few devote themselves to organizing and directing chess for the rest of the players. Some devote their attention to teaching kids or novice adults. Many amateurs play a lot more chess than masters do. Probably have more fun, too.
One of the more interesting and negative aspects of the chess world is the social class system based on ratings. Many masters and experts barely speak or mix with lower rated players. Their relationship is much the same as predator to prey. A similar phenomenon occurs between various rating class players with lower rated players. Many Class B players often do not socialize with class E players. I have observed this for years while running tournaments. It doesn’t always happen this way, but I have seen enough of it to wonder about why it occurs and if it happens in other sports. Unfortunately, there is a pecking order in many sports and games that results in social stratification among the players. With chess it starts with rating. I have even noticed some TDs that are always chummy with higher rated players, but barely speak to the lower rated guys and gals. A couple of my buddies asked me why I don’t act like the other masters they see and always fraternize with everybody. Pretty simple actually. My mentors as a player and a TD had fun with everybody and did not act differently toward people based on their rating. They treated everyone the same, as equals. It is a good philosophy in general, and worked for them when they organized tournaments, too. I always keep in mind a set of unwritten rules I learned from them about chess, business, and life.
As to why tournaments are arranged to funnel money upward to more prize money for the higher rated players, I would say it is more because of tradition and past precedent in the organization of tournaments. Class section tournaments often act to levelize the prizes, but even here we see many tournaments that give significantly lower payouts to lower rated players than to higher rated. In two section tournaments, it seems odd to put over half the prize fund into a top section that has only a third of the entrants. Top heavy tournament prize systems are a risk in that if you do not get enough lower rated players, you as the organizer are in a real bind, especially if you are guaranteeing the prize fund. The base, which is made up of Class B, C, and D players, often grumble at the fat prizes for the high rated guys while their class prizes are crumbs or an afterthought. If you don’t think lower rated players do not make cost/benefit economic appraisals of prize funds and what they can earn, you have another think coming. I have seen tournaments that have class prizes that are barely above the entry fee, but organizers foolishly expect players to show up just to watch the games of the masters. Fuggedaboutit. The lower rated come to play in their own tournament and barely care what the masters and experts do. Their own games provide them with the entertainment and challenge they seek. Sometimes it is the masters that crowd around the last game of a round where two Class B players are fighting out a tricky rook ending.