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This paper illustrates the social determinants of lifelong learning histories as uncovered in a large-scale survey and interview analysis carried out as part of the ESRC Learning Society Programme, and previously reported in this journal [see TD/ACE 56.24]. The statistical 'determinants' of adult participation in learning as described there, such as family background or gender, are examined here in terms of individual stories as well as theoretical models derived from earlier phases of this project. The two forms of data and their analyses appear to accord, suggesting perhaps that concepts of structure (determinants) and agency (choice) are not mutually incompatible in explaining patterns of adult learning. Choices are anyway made within subjective opportunity structures (which include notions of what is 'appropriate' for each person).