ABSTRACT
The bourgeois society that followed and came to fruition around the nineteenth century was not all that different. The revolutions and counter-revolutions that the intellectuals instigated in Europe caused the first major upheavals in European society. A society based on winners and losers or meritocratic success makes for a very different conception of “individualism” and a very different social structure than the old class system. A society where social ranking is based on personal success is formally known as a meritocracy. However, this is not an egalitarian society based on equality of opportunity, as those who advocated it had hoped; far from it, the pre-conditions for succeeding in life are very unequally distributed. The key to a really successful life and the highest rankings in society is the ability to convert one form of success into other forms. In traditional society, friendships among men of the upper classes were formed in their student years in high schools and universities.
