The question about what kind of people have good results in life, or reach great goals, it is part of an important debate in contemporary societies. There are two differents positions: on one hand there are people who claim that success is because random situations, and some other proposes that owes to self effort.
The first one, the one that suggests that great life results are determined by hard work, is based in a meritocracy point of view. In other word, as much merit you do, better results you have. It’s based on a individual philosophy, that usually is presented with the “self made man” metaphor: a person who has overcame life, and has gotten good results because of his effort and skills. No matter where the person was born, he or she can reach his dreams.
In contrast, there is another point of view, that is convinced that personal effort is not the most important fact. Therefore, the key issue is the place you were born, or the quality family you had. Indeed, what really matters is the social class, or family roots, you have, even more than your individual habilities or skills. Consequently, anyone could dream whatever it wants, but it not really matters if the individual does not have the sources to get it. Similarly, meritocracy is a nice lie, but it is not really true.
From my point of view, and considering what happens in my country, I believe that the social gaps and differences have declined during the last year, but there are important boundaries to overcome the social structure. Therefore, a person could make a lot of effort, maybe going to the university or have great grades at school, but even suppossing that, there are still importance barriers to social success. In other words, there are important walls yet, maybe more invisible, but they are still there.
In conclusion, and answering the question, I honestly think that society, at least in Chile, there have been much improvements in social justice, but there are social gaps that are important to consider and keep working on.