It continues because it's a high-stakes situation. If you endure the period of 1-3 years with abuse and horrible working conditions, you have that golden star

It continues because it's a high-stakes situation. If you endure the period of 1-3 years with abuse and horrible working conditions, you have that golden star in your resume, and can move on to something better. But that's how the system is designed. Work young analysts to the bone, send them off to business school/hedge funds/private equity firms/corporate dev. jobs/whatever, and take in the next batch. The people that rock the boat can easily get punished. And then their financial careers go up in smoke. Not an ideal situation for high-achievers that have sacrificed their youth on getting good grades, extracurriculars, and in general maximizing their chances of getting into some investment bank.