Status persists via genes and mating

Centuries of British family records, analysed by Gregory Clark, suggest that social status is highly persistent across generations and that this persistence is consistent with genetic inheritance amplified by assortative mating rather than long‑lasting wealth transfers or simple parental investment. The pattern shows similar predictive power from maternal and paternal kin, weak long‑run effects of inherited wealth, and limited impact from family size or birth order in the historical data Clark examines. — If true, this reframes debates about inequality, schooling, and immigration by putting hereditary and mating‑pattern mechanisms on the table as policy‑relevant causal factors.