Within the family, we like to think, everyone starts out on equal footing—and yet we see around us evidence that siblings often diverge widely in social status, wealth, and education. Drawing on decades of research, sociologist Dalton Conley confirms that society's hierarchies begin in the home, and he clarifies how children are shaped by gender expectations, the economic cost of education, divorce, early loss of a parent, geographic mobility, religion, sexual orientation, trauma, and accidents.

"Conley turns conventional wisdom on its head…. Astonishing."—New York Times