Just as cash gave way to credit cards and in-person transactions yielded to online purchases, our social currencies have also changed. Previously, a person’s standing in the community was determined by the level of regard for that individual’s achievements—or perhaps ambitions, if we were discussing someone youthful. As for the background of those people, we might have known something of their place of birth, education, some of their broader interests and so on. Their accomplishments, however, were the main act. How they arrived at the circumstances that allowed those accomplishments was, understandably, of lesser interest. During the late nineteenth century…