Social Environment and Its Effect On One's Life Social environment is influenced by one's power and wealth. This, in turn, determines success or failure in peoples' lives. If one were born with a "silver spoon" in his mouth, he would easily be able to attend a fancy school no matter how intelligent he is or have any luxury he wants just because of power and wealth. On the flip side, if one were born to a poor family in a bad neighborhood infested with violence and drugs, he would have a much smaller chance of succeeding in life, more especially, going to an upper-class school. It is hard for many poor to go to college because of such high tuition costs.