hereditary privilege
Advantage from ancestry
Hereditary privilege is advantage or status passed down through family lineage rather than earned through merit.
The term typically appears in discussions of social inequality, aristocratic systems, or critiques of wealth concentration: The founders sought to build a nation without hereditary privilege.
It implies unearned benefit—something received by accident of birth rather than achievement.
- ancien régimeReplaced system of governance
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- noble birthAristocratic family lineage
- primogenitureEldest inherits all
- nobilityTitled ruling class
caste · ruling class · class struggle · serfdom · dynasties · hereditary titles · birthright · silver spoon · trust fund · landed gentry · wealth redistribution · nepotism · entailment · feudalism · monarchy · oligarchy · gentry · royal lineage
hereditary privilegemeritocracy
Advancement through demonstrated ability
self-made success · merit-based selection · social mobility · pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps · rags to riches
hereditary privilegeequal opportunity
Unbiased chance for all
classlessness · open society · level playing field · egalitarianism · classless society
hereditary privilegeegalitarianism
Philosophy of universal equality
republicanism · democracy · socialism · communism · classless society