Americans are taught to believe that upward
mobility is possible for anyone who is willing to work hard, regardless of
their social status, yet it is often those from affluent backgrounds who land
the best jobs. Pedigree takes readers behind the closed doors
of top-tier investment banks, consulting firms, and law firms to reveal the
truth about who really gets hired for the nation’s highest-paying entry-level
jobs, who doesn’t, and why.
Drawing on scores of in-depth interviews as
well as firsthand observation of hiring practices at some of America’s most
prestigious firms, Lauren Rivera shows how, at every step of the hiring
process, the ways that employers define and evaluate merit are strongly skewed
to favor job applicants from economically privileged backgrounds. She reveals
how decision makers draw from ideas about talent—what it is, what best signals
it, and who does (and does not) have it—that are deeply rooted in social class.
Displaying the "right stuff" that elite employers are looking for
entails considerable amounts of economic, social, and cultural resources on the
part of the applicants and their parents.
Challenging our most cherished beliefs about college
as a great equalizer and the job market as a level playing field, Pedigree exposes
the class biases built into American notions about the best and the brightest,
and shows how social status plays a significant role in determining who reaches
the top of the economic ladder.
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