Chapter 18 Exercises: Born Lucky? The Sociology of Structural Advantage
Level 1 — Comprehension and Recall
These exercises test your understanding of the chapter's core concepts.
1. Define Bourdieu's four forms of capital. Give one original example of each that is not used in the chapter.
2. What is the "birth lottery"? What are the six major dimensions of birth circumstance discussed in the chapter, and why are each outside individual control?
3. Explain the difference between meritocracy as aspiration and meritocracy as description. Why does the chapter argue these two uses of the word are frequently conflated?
4. What is the Great Gatsby Curve? What did Corak's research find about the relationship between income inequality and intergenerational mobility? Name two countries at each end of the curve.
5. Define intersectionality and explain why the chapter describes structural disadvantages as "compound" rather than additive. Give an example.
Level 2 — Application and Analysis
These exercises ask you to apply chapter concepts to new situations.
6. Priya and Theo had similar credentials but different outcomes. Using Bourdieu's framework, identify which specific forms of capital were different between them and explain how each difference shaped the outcome.
7. The chapter distinguishes between bonding capital and bridging capital. Identify one person in your life who represents each type of connection. How has each form of social capital functioned in your own life — what has it provided, and what has it been unable to provide?
8. Consider the meritocracy critiques made by Markovits and Sandel. Write a two-paragraph analysis: in paragraph one, explain the strongest version of the meritocracy argument; in paragraph two, explain the strongest critique. Which do you find more persuasive, and why?
9. "Structural luck shapes the game; personal action plays the hand." Apply this formulation to a specific domain of your own life — college applications, a job search, an athletic career, a creative pursuit. What were the structural factors? What were the personal agency factors? How did they interact?
10. The chapter argues that acknowledging structural luck tends to increase generosity. Why might this be psychologically true? Can you think of a counterargument — a way that acknowledging structural luck might reduce motivation or effort? How would you respond to that counterargument?
Level 3 — Research and Evidence Evaluation
These exercises ask you to engage with evidence and research methods.
11. The audit study by Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004) is described in the chapter. List at least three methodological choices that make this study more convincing than a simple survey asking hiring managers if they discriminate. What limitations might the study still have?
12. Branko Milanovic's research suggests that 50–60% of global income variation is explained by country of birth and parental social class. What methodological challenges would you expect in producing this estimate? What kind of data would you need? What assumptions would have to hold for the figure to be accurate?
13. Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research documents declining intergenerational mobility in the United States over decades. Research one specific finding from this project and write a 200-word summary of: what was measured, how it was measured, and what the finding implies for the meritocracy debate.
14. The chapter presents the Great Gatsby Curve as evidence against meritocracy-as-description. A critic might argue that correlation does not imply causation — that inequality and immobility might both be caused by a third factor (such as cultural differences between countries). How would you evaluate this alternative explanation? What additional evidence would you want?
15. Consider the concept of "symbolic capital." How would you operationalize (define in measurable terms) symbolic capital in a research study on hiring outcomes? What variables would you measure as proxies for symbolic capital?
Level 4 — Synthesis and Critical Thinking
These exercises require you to integrate multiple ideas and form original arguments.
16. The chapter presents structural luck as something that "shapes the game." But some critics argue that framing all disadvantage as "structural" can patronize individuals from disadvantaged groups by implying they lack genuine agency. Write a 400-word essay responding to this critique, defending the chapter's position while acknowledging what is legitimate in the concern.
17. Bourdieu developed his framework primarily in France in the 1970s and 1980s. In what ways might the digital economy — social media, remote work, online education, the creator economy — have modified or complicated his capital framework? Have new forms of capital emerged? Have the conversion rates between capitals changed?
18. Design a study that would measure the monetary value of social capital in the job market. What would you measure? How would you control for confounding variables? What ethical considerations would arise in designing and conducting such research?
19. The chapter discusses how acknowledging structural luck has both personal and political dimensions. Write a 350-word reflection on the following tension: in a competitive job market, individuals who acknowledge structural luck may be less driven to compete aggressively, while those who believe in pure meritocracy may be more driven. Does the chapter's argument, if widely adopted, create a collective action problem? How do you resolve this tension?
20. Priya is facing a job market that disadvantages her in specific structural ways. Using everything in this chapter, write a 500-word strategic memo to Priya advising her on how to think about her situation — what the structural factors are, what they imply for her strategy, and what specific actions follow from a clear-eyed structural analysis. (Note: you will have more tools for this memo after reading Chapters 19–21.)
Level 5 — Creative and Integrative Projects
These exercises ask for original creative or research work.
21. Conduct a "structural luck audit" of your own life. Using the six dimensions from the chapter — economic capital, social capital, cultural capital, symbolic capital, health/ability, and geographic luck — rate yourself on a 1–5 scale for each dimension and write a 150-word reflection on what you notice. (Note: this is a self-assessment, not a value judgment. Its purpose is accurate mapping, not self-blame or self-congratulation.)
22. Interview two people who have achieved significant professional success. Ask each of them about the role of structural factors — family connections, economic background, educational access — in their success. Compare the two accounts. Do people who acknowledge structural luck describe their success differently than those who attribute it entirely to individual merit? Write a 500-word comparative analysis.
23. Find and read one piece of scholarship or journalism that argues strongly for meritocracy as a functioning description of contemporary society, and one that argues strongly against it. Write a 600-word essay that synthesizes the two arguments, identifies where they genuinely disagree on empirical grounds, and arrives at your own tentative position.
24. The chapter introduces Rawls' "veil of ignorance" as a thought experiment. Extend the thought experiment: If you had to design a hiring system from behind the veil of ignorance, without knowing what structural advantages or disadvantages you would have when you graduated, what would that system look like? What elements of current hiring practices would you keep, and what would you change?
25. Using publicly available data from Opportunity Insights (opportunityinsights.org), identify one finding about economic mobility that you find most surprising. Write a 400-word data story that explains the finding, contextualizes it within the chapter's framework, and discusses what it implies for someone in your demographic situation.