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Concentrated economic power has become an increasing cause for concern. Recent research has highlighted the pivotal role of inheritance (patrimony) in amassing substantial wealth and the consequent influence of families in shaping economic power today. Curiously, both notions of capitalists and, in particular, family capitalists are largely absent from recent academic debates on this subject. After all, such concepts have long vanished from sight as tools for sociological inquiry. “Capital” is allegedly “back,” but capitalists are nowhere to be found.

Leveraging comprehensive population-wide register data on shareholding, occupation, wealth, and board membership, I examine the kinship ties of Norwegian capitalists from 1970 to 2021, a period that includes individuals born more than a century apart. By consolidating kin linkages through births and marriages, I identify an average of 22 kin connections per capitalist, including up to six generational linkages. My findings suggest that family ties continue to play a significant role in shaping and maintaining economic power today. To capture this dynamic, I argue, it is necessary to move from the ownership of net wealth to the organization of corporate property and to broaden the concept of family from nuclear constellations to wider kinship ties.

The Sociology Seminar Series for Trinity Term is convened by Nan Dirk de Graaf and Christiaan Monden.  For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.