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If people want to succeed, they only need to work. We live in a democracy!
This sentence asserts the dogma of equality of opportunity. It raises issues on two levels:
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On one hand, it assumes that every individual has been endowed with sufficient innate qualities, as well as a quality education, providing them with a real chance to succeed by their own efforts.
What are the chances in a democracy for an individual whose neurons were largely burned out because his mother drank, and who received only his father's violence, his uncles' sexual abuse, and academic failure as education?
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On the other hand, it denies nepotism, that is, the fact that success is largely the product of chance, and even more so of the social power of the family network.
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The equation for success
Level of success = Personal talent × Effort × Circumstances
This equation illustrates that success is the product of three factors, not just one.
Moreover, it is a product and not a sum, meaning that even one catastrophic factor is enough to annul the other two, even if they are very favorable.
This holds true for both social success and sporting success.
Citations
Characters 3(IV) from La Bruyère: 'What excuses the ambitious fool of his ambition is the care taken, if he has made a great fortune, to find merit in him that he never had, and as great as he believes he has.'
To deepen
↣ The self-indulgence bias, Wikipedia article
Refer to the question 'Why is coaching a dangerous illusion?'
↣ Increase in inequalities, linked to automation, in the USA, in the period 1960 - 2020
With comments on the Slashdot website