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Every success story, when examined closely enough, almost always reveals a common thread: a teacher who believed in the student and introduced him or her to someone, a well-connected uncle who made a phone call, a serendipitous encounter at a social dinner party, or an address book that was inherited rather than patiently built from scratch.
What That Really Means
This reality must not lead to cynicism or fatalism. Rather, it should prompt us to adopt a form of intellectual honesty that is rare but beneficial. Recognizing that merit alone is almost never enough also means acknowledging the collective responsibility that weighs on our societies: the responsibility to expand opportunities for entry, scholarships, mentoring networks, and programs that compensate for the lack of that famous“ initial boost” for those who do not naturally inherit it.
For ultimately, the real question is not whether networks and connections exist— they will always exist in any human society, no matter how egalitarian it claims to be. The real question is whether our democracies are equipping themselves with the means to democratize, specifically, access to these networks— to transform the serendipity of chance encounters into reproducible, open systems accessible to those who weren’ t lucky enough to be born on the right side of the address book.
Otherwise, meritocracy will remain what it all too often is today: an aristocracy that has simply changed its vocabulary, swapping titles of nobility for degrees from elite universities, castles for residential neighborhoods, but which, at its core, continues to be passed down in the same way as in the days of kings— from hand to hand, from generation to generation, almost never from nothing.
Flashmag! Edition 177 Octobre 2026
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