What is the world?

Currently thinking about what Ortega has said about the subject in Man and Crisis, p.39:

"...this world of collective beliefs...has a peculiar character not possessed by the the world of individual beliefs; namely it is valid for itself regardless of and sometimes despite our acceptance of it...the concepts of the times, the ambient convictions, are held by an anonymous subject who is no one in particular; this is society. And those concepts have force and validity even though I may not accept them--that force makes itself felt on me, even though negatively....I must take account of them in my life, just as I must take account of the wall which will not let me pass...

p. 40: "world is merely the system of convictions in force at that date"

Knowing this system of convictions would help explain the visible actions and internal monologue of, say, an inhabitant of Rome during the time of Marcus Aurelius. But is this system held in common by all classes, or are there slightly different map depending on wealth and class? And besides, what determines wealth and class, if not this system of convictions?

Quick thought about our times? Is evolutionary thought part of, or not part of our world? And in economics, is socialism dead because "it's been tried and has failed?"