The United States is not the land of equal opportunity. There are no titles of nobility as in Europe, but astounding affluence is passed on in privileged families, and this makes all the difference. Studies in the 1970s found that a child of the elite and a child of the working class may start out with similar intelligence and drive, but the rich child is about 30 times more likely to prosper. The rich child goes to high-prestige schools, where his or her education may be only slightly above average, but where the child accumulates friendships with future leaders.
The privileged child becomes comfortable with luxury and is at ease in situations where powerful people meet. The working-class child from a less-prestigious college is not likely to wind up impoverished, but
neither is he or she likely to attend many parties of Yale or Vassar alumni.