Well, that's how a lot of colleges in the US and UK have historically worked. In the UK it was more explicit; if you were an aristocratic sort, you would send your children to a private boarding school where they would meet and befriend the children of your Peers of the Realm, and since Britain was a global empire back in those days, often the children of a similar upper class of people overseas. Prestigious universities functioned as an extension of that into young adulthood.
In the US today, it's less about class and more about money. It's not that your child grows up among the children of nobility, so much as the children of people who can and will spend 5 (or even sometimes 6!) figures a year on their kids' education and future. Things like 'legacy admissions' and a difficult-to-navigate application process keep prestigious institutions largely full of the well-off, and again, since these really are world-class educational institutions, that includes well-off individuals from around the world. I think that Greek organizations are just one common part of the system that persists more visibly after graduation, but it's really about getting to know broad network of as many powerful people as possible.
That sort of dynamic in education really stymies social mobility in general, though. It's like opportunity hoarding.
It’s still about class to an extent: source I was a legacy at PA Andover. Class is still an issue, but the definition has changed to include the acceptably upwardly mobile. The core is still some version of family continuity though.
In the US today, it's less about class and more about money. It's not that your child grows up among the children of nobility, so much as the children of people who can and will spend 5 (or even sometimes 6!) figures a year on their kids' education and future. Things like 'legacy admissions' and a difficult-to-navigate application process keep prestigious institutions largely full of the well-off, and again, since these really are world-class educational institutions, that includes well-off individuals from around the world. I think that Greek organizations are just one common part of the system that persists more visibly after graduation, but it's really about getting to know broad network of as many powerful people as possible.
That sort of dynamic in education really stymies social mobility in general, though. It's like opportunity hoarding.