The Accidental Equalizer

Jessi Streib's The Accidental Equalizer argues that for many mid-tier business jobs hiring college graduates, outcomes are determined more by luck than by class-based advantages.

Drawing on interviews, observations, and longitudinal tracking of students at a public non-elite university, Streib shows that employers hide pay and evaluation criteria while using class-neutral hiring standards, creating a 'luckocracy' that equalizes earnings across class backgrounds.

The book examines how this system operates in college, in hiring events, and during early career promotions, and it discusses the trade-offs between equality and transparency.

Streib highlights both the equalizing benefits and the downsides of hidden information, such as poor job matches and depressed wages, and considers implications for policy and future research.