The hallmark of “good ol’ boy” culture is some version of what I just explained above. There might not be beer. Premium bourbon works just as well. There might not be pickup trucks. The valet has the Maserati at the ready. But still, friends help each other out. They share connections. They help each other’s families. They interact easily and freely. They vouch for each other. They forgive mistakes. You know, the way friends do.

Want evidence of a “good ol’ boy” network? Look at the staggering NFL nepotism stats. As Kalyn Kahler wrote last month in Defector, “Overall, the league averages 3.4 coaches per team who are related to a current or former NFL coach, and the percentage of coaches at the supervisory levels—the ones with hiring power—is even higher. Eleven of 32 head coaches are related to a current or former NFL coach. There are 24 coordinators who are related to current or former coaches, almost a full quarter of them.”

Here’s the problem: While bad laws can be reformed by legal means, it’s more difficult to reform bad cultures through force of law. Nondiscrimination laws are a hammer designed to nail down explicit manifestations of discrimination, and even powerful evidence of underrepresentation is not always enough to establish a legal claim. Thus, while the hammers are often indispensable to justice and fairness, they’re not always sufficient. Strip away all the legal barriers for entry, and somebody still has to look across the desk at an applicant and say, “You’re my guy.”