The Accidental Equalizer: How Luck Determines Pay after College - Hardcover

Streib, Jessi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226829316 ISBN 13: 9780226829319

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2023

Synopsis

A startling discovery—that job market success after college is largely random—forces a reappraisal of education, opportunity, and the American dream.

As a gateway to economic opportunity, a college degree is viewed by many as America’s great equalizer. And it’s true: wealthier, more connected, and seemingly better-qualified students earn exactly the same pay as their less privileged peers. Yet, the reasons why may have little to do with bootstraps or self-improvement—it might just be dumb luck. That’s what sociologist Jessi Streib proposes in The Accidental Equalizer, a conclusion she reaches after interviewing dozens of hiring agents and job-seeking graduates.

Streib finds that luck shapes the hiring process from start to finish in a way that limits class privilege in the job market. Employers hide information about how to get ahead and force students to guess which jobs pay the most and how best to obtain them. Without clear routes to success, graduates from all class backgrounds face the same odds at high pay. The Accidental Equalizer is a frank appraisal of how this “luckocracy” works and its implications for the future of higher education and the middle class. Although this system is far from eliminating American inequality, Streib shows that it may just be the best opportunity structure we have—for better and for worse.

About this title

About the Author

Jessi Streib is associate professor of sociology at Duke University. She is the author of two books, including Privilege Lost: Who Leaves the Upper-Middle-Class and How They Fall.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226829316
• ISBN 13: 9780226829319
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256