In France as in Europe, a society of heirs
With the return of social inequalities worthy of Balzac's time in Europe, France is on the front line, according to an essay cited by this left-wing British daily. But while social cohesion is fraying, neither Emmanuel Macron nor his Prime Minister seem to grasp the scale of the problem.
In The Injustice of Inheritance , an essay that has been widely reported in the French press, researcher Mélanie Plouviez cites, in support of her damning indictment, the society depicted by one of the French novelists most dear to them. The power of fortunes derived from inheritance and income in the France of 2025 is similar to that at the root of the injustices depicted by Honoré de Balzac in his chronicles of ambition and despair [in The Human Comedy ].
As in the 1820s, “Who can today become a homeowner in Paris on their earned income alone, without any family support?” she writes. “With the contemporary resurgence of inheritance, the gap between what work allows and what inheritance allows is also making a comeback.”
The problem is unfortunately not an exception in Europe, and the same observation could be made in British, German, or Italian societies. Economist Thomas Piketty has analyzed how, in Western democracies, the sharp rise in stock and real estate markets has boosted wealth at the expense of earned income.
From
Courrier International
