There's a yes and no here.
No, it's not like the Rockefellers & Rothschilds rule the world. Or similar conspiracy theory nuttery.
But, yes, it matters a lot who your parents are in life: genes matter. If you read Gregory Clark's "The Son Also Rises" you'll note that talent runs in families. Social mobility is very, very low in society. If you look closer at the so-called rise of BRIC centimillionaires/billionaires/oligarchs you'll see the family names that ran the show when everyone was dirt poor throughout the respective national histories to be highly overrepresented today. Descendants of Japanese samurai class are much more likely to have a high public or commercial position. That's true for Sweden, US, China & the UK.
It's just the way it is.
OTOH, don't let that discourage you. Individuals can still be very succesful and if you want your kids to be succesful as well, you'll have to pick a good girl from a good family.
No, it's not like the Rockefellers & Rothschilds rule the world. Or similar conspiracy theory nuttery.
But, yes, it matters a lot who your parents are in life: genes matter. If you read Gregory Clark's "The Son Also Rises" you'll note that talent runs in families. Social mobility is very, very low in society. If you look closer at the so-called rise of BRIC centimillionaires/billionaires/oligarchs you'll see the family names that ran the show when everyone was dirt poor throughout the respective national histories to be highly overrepresented today. Descendants of Japanese samurai class are much more likely to have a high public or commercial position. That's true for Sweden, US, China & the UK.
It's just the way it is.
OTOH, don't let that discourage you. Individuals can still be very succesful and if you want your kids to be succesful as well, you'll have to pick a good girl from a good family.