Meritocracy

Social Darwinism--or the idea that those who work hard and are talented will naturally be successful or conversely those who lack success fail due to vices--is an overly simplistic but powerful idea that is ingrained in our society. People like John Edwards and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who go around boasting (to mainstream media) about their stories of working up the latter from poverty to riches,  reinforce the old adage that hard work pays off and perpetuates the idea (rooted in the American dream)  that the individual's work alone is what led them to success. And from that an even more false and detrimental idea is breed: when individuals are not successful, they equate it to them lacking ability and not working hard enough. Lack of success is equated to a lack of worth. 

Of course, people have innate abilities and hard work is important. But success and the factors/casual relationship that lead to it are a a little (okay a lot) more complicated. For example, arbitrary cut-off dates end up having profound effects on students in the educational system. At an early age, students that are born closer to the august cut-off date are more likely to be selected for honors programs, as a result of their teachers "confusing maturity with ability." [In US colleges, it has been found that "students belonging to the relatively youngest group in their class are under represented by 11.6 percent" (29, Malcom Gladwell, Outliers). ]

The students that are selected then get superior schooling (usually for an extended period of time): It allows them to receive more challenging work, more chances to increase self-esteem, and more individual attention. Then they go on to gain even greater advantages that lead to greater abilities that lead to greater opportunities,  just because some small ability/maturity difference was recognized by a teacher at an early age.  

So...

"It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It's the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It's the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it's the biggest nine- and ten-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice. Success is the result of what sociologists like to call 'accumulative advantage'" (30). -Malcom Gladwell

It is ludicrous to equate poverty to rampant vices and a life that lacks values. It is ludicrous to blame (or praise the individual) without taking into account circumstances. For example, in Texas  housing taxes are lower in poorer neighborhoods than in more affluent areas (because their houses are appraised at less) and since the city collects less money, their public schools receive less money.  So their quality of education and consequently number of opportunities is less than equal to richer areas. 

Disadvantages are further increased for people in less affluent parts of society, because they are often splitting time between a job that is necessary to survive and time for honing a valuable skill. To contrast, 

 "…America's richest 1% of households own more than half the nation's stocks and control more wealth ($16 trillion) than the bottom 90%" (Geroge F. Will).   Obviously, those  born into America's super rich are more likely to succeed!  And not because of their individual efforts but because they have access to the highest quality of education, the best tutors, superior technology and more expendable amounts of money for other resources. They are more likely to meet other influential people, who control wealth and business, that can provide even more opportunities to success.  

Ability, dedication and hard work are determining factors in survival and success rates. However, in a social context where they are ubiquitous qualities, success also has to be based on the profound effects of surroundings (culture, background, social networks, etc.) ,  luck of avoidance (natural disasters, car crashes, etc,)  and small but open doors of opportunity that were happened upon. 

It isn't hard to think of reasons why our society has decided to directly link success to an individual's hard work and  abilities. If we (those who compose our society) believe in the idea that working hard will lead to success, then we will be more driven and our society will have a better chance at competing in a global market. The idea is one that can provide endless hope to the masses. And of course, those who reach success want the ego stroke of being individually accredited  so that the hard work they did wasn't in vain.