Not really sure where to post this, but I think it's a topic worth investigating, primarily because of how little is documented about it.
I've been thinking about this a lot after reading this article in the Financial Times - Subscribe to read | Financial Times - about how inheritance is becoming once again the primary source of wealth, and makes reference to the poor "middle class" who feel emotionally adrift and directionless because jobs pay so little compared to property wealth that they can't motivate themselves to work.
I've known a handful of wealthy people throughout my life, and I've slowly come to the realisation that there are huge numbers of idle rich in the UK who primarily make money from property and live off inheritance - but they seem to be aware this is quite shameful and don't advertise it so it doesn't seem to be widely known. They also conceal it by pretending some hobby or pet project is their job; like working as a DJ or artist or something and pretending like that is your actual source of income, or running some vanity project business which may or may not actually turn a profit.
I wonder if there is any book written investigating this phenomenon in detail? Or what kind of methodology could you use to research it?
I'm also interested in what it says about the possible decline of the bourgeoisie as a social class. Like the example in the FT, the ESL fiasco was mostly spearheaded by heirs who inherited their positions and were therefore too incompetent to do proper market research. With the exception of new tech industries which still produce talented capitalists, most established industries seem to be dominated by heirs of limited ability.
Could we soon reach a point where even highly qualified professional jobs do not earn enough to get onto the property ladder, so you have a scenario of a society of highly skilled and highly educated proletarians on one hand, and entitled and incompetent idle rich heirs on the other? Seems to me like the enterprising and skilled bourgeoisie succeeded in overthrowing the idle and entitled aristocratic landowning class due to similar conditions.
If this is the direction we are going in, then building a class consciousness based on pride in productive and skilled work in contrast to the idle rich seems like a good approach for socialists to take, but this can't happen unless a spotlight is put onto the idle rich, who thus far seem to have been successful in disguising their lifestyles and evading entry into public consciousness.
It seems like there is very little known about how many idle rich there are or any statistics about inheritance, so I wanted to make this thread as a place to compile information about it and keep it in one place.
I've been thinking about this a lot after reading this article in the Financial Times - Subscribe to read | Financial Times - about how inheritance is becoming once again the primary source of wealth, and makes reference to the poor "middle class" who feel emotionally adrift and directionless because jobs pay so little compared to property wealth that they can't motivate themselves to work.
I've known a handful of wealthy people throughout my life, and I've slowly come to the realisation that there are huge numbers of idle rich in the UK who primarily make money from property and live off inheritance - but they seem to be aware this is quite shameful and don't advertise it so it doesn't seem to be widely known. They also conceal it by pretending some hobby or pet project is their job; like working as a DJ or artist or something and pretending like that is your actual source of income, or running some vanity project business which may or may not actually turn a profit.
I wonder if there is any book written investigating this phenomenon in detail? Or what kind of methodology could you use to research it?
I'm also interested in what it says about the possible decline of the bourgeoisie as a social class. Like the example in the FT, the ESL fiasco was mostly spearheaded by heirs who inherited their positions and were therefore too incompetent to do proper market research. With the exception of new tech industries which still produce talented capitalists, most established industries seem to be dominated by heirs of limited ability.
Could we soon reach a point where even highly qualified professional jobs do not earn enough to get onto the property ladder, so you have a scenario of a society of highly skilled and highly educated proletarians on one hand, and entitled and incompetent idle rich heirs on the other? Seems to me like the enterprising and skilled bourgeoisie succeeded in overthrowing the idle and entitled aristocratic landowning class due to similar conditions.
If this is the direction we are going in, then building a class consciousness based on pride in productive and skilled work in contrast to the idle rich seems like a good approach for socialists to take, but this can't happen unless a spotlight is put onto the idle rich, who thus far seem to have been successful in disguising their lifestyles and evading entry into public consciousness.
It seems like there is very little known about how many idle rich there are or any statistics about inheritance, so I wanted to make this thread as a place to compile information about it and keep it in one place.
Last edited:
