Mechanically, when we are talking in terms of people relations, failure is easier to own and learn from if that failure comes from the individual's own efforts. If someone is forced into failure by another, for instance, or one fails and then the effects of that failure are magnified by the mockery or suffering of others, it tends to build greater resent, frustration, and/or social pressure.
It is often the difference between "how can I do it better" and "so and so thinks this of me" or "I failed so and so." Of course, frustration and social pressure aren't necessarily negative or bad things, as is the case in competition. But when we have whole dense populations of people perpetually on the "losing" end, at least to the collective perception, but also in material terms, then that pressure can only build with no internal relief or outlet, and then we have a problem.
If you have a society as dense and interdependent as ours, it has to be the case that that multitude of connections is allowed to "breathe" and "move."
And to put it in a more vertical sense, if you are building towers that stretch high into the sky, you better make damn well sure those foundations are quite strong, especially if you plan on spending a lot of time at the top.
