>If someone is going to work harder for something they simply deserve it

What if they only know to work harder for something because of their privilege? Plenty of groups, due to lack of privilege, simply don't believe - because it hasn't applied to their cultures in the past - that hard work yields rewards.

Imagine a slave. What incentive does a slave have to work harder? Why would a person from a culture that's backgrounded in slavery believe in hard work?