Forget talent or hard work, erotic capital is the key to success

 The media worked itself up into a lather about an extremely important new socio-economic concept. It's the "definitive professional must-have" of our generation, claimed one paper; the "key to being successful in modern society," said another.

Something to do with being well educated or having good people skills? Not exactly. The buzzword is "erotic capital" and apparently it's what everyone (except, presumably, the irredeemably ugly) should aspire to have.

According to Catherine Hakim, doctor of sociology at the LSE, people who have erotic capital tend to do better in the workplace, earning an average of 10 to 15% more than their erotically challenged colleagues. Erotic capital, she says, has been crucial in the success of many public figures. The Obamas have it in abundance, as do David Beckham and Angelina Jolie (obviously). David Cameron is reasonably well equipped in the EC department, though Gordon Brown (you'd never have guessed) isn't.

It's easy to sneer, of course. Isn't erotic capital just a fancy way of talking about attractiveness or charisma, qualities that have long been known to enhance success? Maybe, but Hakim's real argument is that in modern consumer societies the ways we define success (and hence the ingredients needed to achieve it) are becoming more fluid. Intelligence may still be one path do doing well (so don't turn down that place at Oxbridge just yet), but there's been an explosion of other routes.

Celebrity is an obvious one, but according to Hakim there are many others. In marketing, public relations, television, even the law and banking, being physically attractive is the way to get ahead. As society as a whole becomes more sexualised, greater financial benefits accrue to the sexy.

So behind the concept is a message you'll find uplifting or depressing: not only are the physically attractive more likely to get lots of sex, they also have a better chance of making loads of money.