The West, Russia and China: Inheritance systems and ways of economic development

Abstract

The current confrontation between Russia-China and the West requires a study of civilizational differences that determine national identities and attitudes towards social-economic values. This confrontation has deep cultural roots; thus, the Russian-Western intense rivalry in the 18th - 19th centuries was based on different perceptions of social reality, different value orientations and priorities in economy, politics and other spheres. Sociologists and social philosophers have studied factors that determined civilizational differences between non-Western and Western societies, namely the Russian world and the Anglo-Saxon world for decades, emphasizing their confessional differences, fundamentally divergent geopolitical interests, opposite political systems and so on. In the social-economic perspective, property rights are a significant basis of civilizational differences. The West has always considered its clear stand on property rights as the only possible. However, this position can be based on either economic considerations or moral criteria. Such differences are reflected in inheritance systems, although sociologists rarely focus on them. The division between heirs in equal parts complies with the moral standards of our society and is known as the path of ‘communal good’. Another way is to transfer the greater part of property to one member of the family in order to avoid its fragmentation, which is reasonable in the economic perspective but not always morally acceptable; this is the path known as ‘rational evil’. Thus, inheritance systems are among the most crucial civilizational differences between Russia and the West. The civilizational analysis is fundamentally important under the current confrontation between the West and Russia- China, and the position on private property and inheritance system determines civilizational differences. In Western Europe, the right of primogeniture was in force for a long time, and its cruel laws dictated that all real estate and most of the other property was inherited by the eldest son. This rule contributed to the earlу development of capitalism based on wage labor. On the contrary, in Russia, China and many other non-Western countries, the inheritance was divided among all children. Although it was disadvantageous for the social-economic development, it did not contradict conventional moral standards and did not destroy family relationships. In post-industrial societies, the institutional context has radically changed and the division of property among relatives does not