The gender of inheritance in an upper-class family network

Dallas, 1895-1945

Bibliographic Data

ID4774370
AuthorsShivaun O’brien (0000-0001-8687-6377, Stone Program in Wealth Distribution, Inequality, and Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School , Cambridge, MA, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume23
Issue2
Pages621-644
Publication date2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocio-Economic Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-1461 • E-ISSN: 1475-147X
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ser/mwae040
OpenAlexW4399906858
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited45

Inheritance increasingly drives the global wealth gap. But we know little about variation in bequest practices across wealthy populations, beyond the fact that eldest sons have traditionally inherited the largest fortunes. This article offers a case study of one wealthy population, combining the full kinship network of the Dallas upper class from 1895 to 1945 (n = 12 323) with probate data for a sample of elites who died in Dallas during that time period (n = 551). Although the population was highly patriarchal, suggesting that elites would unequivocally favor male heirs, women inherited three times more wealth than men. Less surprisingly, women and men inherited different types of wealth: income-producing capital flowed to men, and trusts and durable consumption assets flowed to women. Overall, family wealth arrangements formed a private, gendered safety net designed to maintain an upper-class lifestyle for all close kin, rather than simply preserving a patrilineal dynasty

Bequest · Capital (architecture) · Consumption (sociology) · Demographic economics · Dowry · Economics · Genealogy · Geography · Inheritance (genetic algorithm) · Inheritance tax · Kinship · Market economy · Political science · Population · Probate · Social class · Social science · Sociology · Upper class · Demography · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law

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