The ideal of financial success is set before the young by most of the influences that form their minds. In the cinema they see representations of luxury, where plutocrats own marble halls and beautiful ladies in splendid dresses. The hero generally succeeds, in the end, in belonging to this successful class. Even artists come to be judged by the amount of money they make. Merit not measured in money comes to be despised. Every kind of sensitiveness, being a handicap in the struggle, is regarded as a stigma of failure.
Source: "The lessons of experience" (In: Mortals and Others: Bertrand Russell's American Essays, 1931-1935, v.1 (1975))
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Driven by the fear that taking detours might lead to "falling behind," young people try to stay on the rails laid down by society without "derailing." They are expected to acquire the knowledge, skills, and even moral values deemed necessary by society, and are put through various tests to assess how well they have done so. They are sifted and sorted, eventually find employment, become part of an organization, and are "managed" as members of society. Under the national slogan of "All Citizens Must Play an Active Role," they are expected to contribute as productive workers. Even in old age, they are told to prepare carefully so as not to burden society, and if they fail to do so and fall into hardship after retirement, they are coldly regarded as having no one to blame but themselves.
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