Ideology and myth do not die easily, and certainly not at the hands of social scientists. Even with decades of systematic and cumulative social scientific evidence to the contrary, in many public policy circles it is still widely believed that North Americans and Europeans live in the land of equal opportunities. Yet the evidence, including the chapters of this book, demonstrates that, notwithstanding a half century of educational expansion and social reform, life chances remain powerfully determined by social origins. This is certainly worrisome if policy makers care about social justice, but it is also problematic if they are concerned with the future. If a large share of today's youth fails to realize its full productive potential, tomorrow's retirees will be less well off.

In this chapter, I shall try to bring together what sociologists and economists know, or at least need to know, about social inheritance and life chances. The bad news is that the constancy of social inheritance dominates our findings. The good news is that recent research has uncovered instances in which it has diminished importantly. If we can identify the precise mechanisms at work this might help governments devise policies to more effectively ensure equal opportunities. To anticipate my conclusions I am, first of all, sceptical of the usual assumption that generational inheritance is primarily driven by investments in education.