To me, the authors opening remark seems misleading at best. But of course criticisms of capitalism must begin by ignoring their hypotheses under a different or past regime:

> One of the most salient archetypes of our current period is called “success to the successful,” which fairly well describes twenty-first-century capitalism

The implication being this is some new facet of our modern society, and not a part of past ones.

I can’t think of a time period, especially when considering a global scale, when the authors claim of “success to the successful” was not true.

In fact, I would say it is less true than ever before. Note that this isn’t the same as saying it does not apply now. Before the internet what opportunities existed for someone in say, rural Africa, to teach themselves skills to obtain success. Now? Marginal, sure, but absolutely present.