Description
Book SynopsisA startling discoverythat job market success after college is largely randomforces 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-improvementit 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
Trade Review"Based on hundreds of interviews with business school graduates and the employers that subsequently hired them, Streib’s book ultimately argues that college is not, in itself, the great equalizer; the impossible-to-navigate job market is." * Inside Higher Education *
“[Streib] examines an important segment of the labor market that gets relatively little attention: entry-level positions for midtier jobs . . . Far too much energy and ink are spent on who gets the most elite jobs, who goes to the most elite schools and how terribly unfair the whole process is. Little of that conversation describes the reality for most Americans. The role of the good-but-not-elite college affects far more people and gives us much more insight into the state of economic mobility than Ivy League statistics.” * Wall Street Journal *
“One of the biggest myths out there is that the job market, unlike other spheres of life, rewards merit. But it largely rewards luck. Most employers in large mid-tier markets are not seeking excellence. They just want reliable people who can do the job. And that is, in many ways, a good thing, argues sociologist Jessi Streib.” * Los Angeles Review of Books *
“That working-class students from state universities do just as well in the job market as better-off students is a remarkable outcome. Even more surprising is that the equalization is actually driven by hiring practices that are so opaque that the graduates are basically flipping coins trying to get hired. Streib’s findings are enormously important for the 80% of all college students who attend those universities and the rocky start it gives their career.” -- Peter Cappelli, author of 'Will College Pay Off?: A Guide to the Most Important Financial Decision You’ll Ever Make'
“Do children born into rich families always make more money than their less privileged counterparts? No! Streib shows that the market for college graduates is a booming-buzzing confusion of idiosyncratic standards, misinformation, and rushed decision-making—all of which undermine the iron law that ‘class matters.’ A striking demonstration that illicit advantage can be countered, provided that one’s willing to infuse the market with lots of noise, luck, and chaos.” -- David B. Grusky, coeditor of 'Inequality in the 21st Century: A Reader'
“We now know that a college education can limit inequalities related to class origin, but very few scholars have tried to explain why. Streib’s engaging, provocative account seeks to answer this question. Rare is the book that challenges well-established beliefs shared by academics and policymakers. This one delivers.” -- Jake Rosenfeld, author of 'You’re Paid What You’re Worth: And Other Myths of the Modern Economy'
Table of ContentsOne: Introducing the Luckocracy
Part I: Forming the Luckocracy
Two: Hidden Information on Jobs and Pay
Three: Hidden Information on Class-Neutral Hiring Criteria
Part II: Playing the Game
Four: Preparing for the Luckocracy
Five: Searching for Jobs
Part III: The Consequences and Continuation of the Luckocracy
Six: The Consequences of the Luckocracy
Seven: The Luckocracy, Redux
Eight: Should We Keep America’s Best Equalizing System?
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: Theoretical Contribution
Appendix B: Data and Methods
Appendix C: Interview Guides and Questionnaires
Notes
References
Index
