Inheritance

Inheritance is the transferal of property from its owner to one or more heirs, usually related persons of subsequent generations. A person's assets might be passed on to their children, or to those with, according to some estimations, “weaker” ties such as more distant kin or friends. The nature of what is passed on is as variable as what can be considered to be property in any given cultural context. Depending on where and between whom inheritance is taking place, it might be framed primarily as a matter of kinship, a mourning practice, a process codified by a legal system, a facet of economic life, or a combination of several of these frameworks. Inheritances can be tangible or intangible and emphasis may be placed upon assets as partible or as impartible. Within the discipline, inheritance is a meeting place between kinship, economics, and politics. Ethnographic and theoretical accounts alike show inheritance as a key instrument in social reproduction.