InvestigationSince the 1970s, heritage has once again become a determining factor in heritage. If the taxation of inheritances gives rise to debates, they are far from being as intense as in the 19th century, when the very principle of transmission was contested by the Saint-Simonians, Bakunin or Durkheim.
In school textbooks as well as in scholarly works, the tirade has passed down to posterity under the name of the “Lesson of Vautrin”. In Goriot de Balzac (1835), this unscrupulous talker explains to the ambitious provincial Rastignac how to make a fortune quickly. There is no point in working, he immediately slips to the young law student: at the end of an exhausting and fierce fight, the competitors always end up “eat each other like spiders in a pot”. Since honesty leads nowhere, he concludes, it is better, for “achieve at all costs”, “play a big hit” by marrying a wealthy heiress.
The scene gladly makes the readers of the 21st century smile.and century: the cynical world of the rentier society depicted by Balzac today seems far removed from the egalitarian and meritocratic ideals of contemporary France. “Who would advise a young law student today to abandon his studies to follow the strategy of social ascent suggested by Vautrin? »wonders Thomas Piketty in Capital in the XXIand century (Threshold, 2013). Nobody, no doubt – which is not necessarily a sign of lucidity. ” In France, continues the economist, heritage is not far from rediscovering, at the start of the 21stand century, the importance it had at the time of the Father Goriot. »
The figures are clear: in a study published in December 2021, the Economic Analysis Council shows that the share of inherited wealth in total wealth has increased, since the 1970s, from 35% to 60%. “After a decline in wealth inequalities and strong economic and social mobility during the second half of the 20and century, inheritance has once again become a determining factor in the constitution of heritage, observe Clément Dherbécourt, Gabrielle Fack, Camille Landais and Stefanie Stantcheva. This return of inheritance feeds a dynamic of reinforcement of patrimonial inequalities based on birth. »
Also listen France, a society of heirs?
France has not yet returned to the society of heirs of the XIXand century or the Belle Epoque, but, for the past fifty years, heritage has increasingly depended, not on talent, effort or work, but on the chances of birth. In a society that promotes equal opportunity, this new deal should fuel bitter intellectual controversies. However, this is not the case: if inheritance taxation is sometimes the subject of debate, our “philosophical imagination about heritage has become impoverished”notes Mélanie Plouviez, lecturer at the University of the Côte d’Azur.
You have 87.67% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.