Raj Chetty's extensive empirical work, particularly with the Opportunity Insights team, provides substantial data and analysis that directly supports and empirically grounds many of the claims made in the original text.

Here's how Chetty's findings align with and strengthen your assertions:

• • Parental Income & Postcode Lottery: Chetty's research, especially with the "Opportunity Atlas," vividly demonstrates how a child's chances of upward economic mobility (their adult income relative to their parents') vary dramatically based on the neighborhood they grow up in and their parents' income. This is the core of the rigged "postcode lottery" and "rigged parents" idea. Children born into low-income families in certain high-opportunity areas have significantly better outcomes than those in low-opportunity areas, even when controlling for individual characteristics. This directly challenges the notion that success is purely a result of individual "superior intellect" and highlights the powerful, often unacknowledged, role of inherited and geographic advantage.
  • "Right to be oblivious": While Chetty doesn't use this exact phrase, his work implicitly supports it. By demonstrating the structural nature of advantage, it exposes the illusion that individual effort alone dictates success. Those who benefit from these structural advantages often do so without fully realizing the systemic biases that favored them, thus allowing for a form of "obliviousness" to the rigged nature of the game.
• • Meritocracy as a Sorting Mechanism: Chetty's findings show that despite widespread belief in meritocracy, intergenerational mobility in the U.S. has been remarkably stagnant in relative terms for decades. While the "rungs of the ladder" (income inequality) have grown further apart, the chances of climbing from lower to higher rungs (relative mobility) haven't changed much. This means that even in a system that theoretically rewards merit, the starting line for individuals is heavily determined by their birth circumstances.
  • Naturalized "Sorting": The fact that these patterns persist despite societal rhetoric about equality of opportunity indicates that the "sorting mechanisms" are deeply embedded and "naturalized" into the fabric of society (e.g., through residential segregation, unequal school funding, disparate access to social networks). Chetty's work on "economic connectedness" further illustrates this, showing how social ties across class lines are crucial for mobility, and yet these ties are often segregated by neighborhood and institution. The absence of these connections is a form of sorting that isn't based on individual merit but on social structures.
• Structural Loss of Traction While Chetty's work is primarily quantitative and focuses on outcomes (income, education, etc.) rather than subjective experiences of agency, his findings on limited social mobility and the powerful influence of "place" and parental income imply this lack of co-creation. If one's life trajectory is heavily influenced by factors beyond their direct control (like neighborhood quality, school resources, or inherited wealth), then their capacity to "co-create" their values, culture, or life-world is inherently constrained. They are, in a sense, directed towards pre-existing paths shaped by these structural forces.

Raj Chetty's primary field is Economics, specifically Public Economics.

He is the William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics at Harvard University and the Director of Opportunity Insights. His work heavily involves:

• Empirical Economics: He uses large datasets ("big data") to study real-world economic phenomena.
• Social Mobility and Inequality: This is the core focus of his most well-known research, exploring how economic opportunities and outcomes vary across different groups and how they are transmitted across generations.
• Public Policy: His research often aims to inform and design more effective government policies to address issues like poverty, education, and social insurance.
• Labor Economics and Behavioral Economics are also listed among his economic fields.

While his work has significant implications for sociology and public policy, his academic discipline is firmly rooted in economics, where he is considered one of the most influential economists of his generation.