Plural Meanings of Ownership

At the upper end of the wealth distribution in Germany, very large fortunes are concentrated in the hands of a few individuals and families. These fortunes have grown historically and represent individual and dynamic configurations of ownership, with firm ownership usually playing a prominent role. This finding alone does not provide any information about the normative significance that wealthy families attach to this firm ownership. What privileges and obligations do they see for themselves as owners? And what is their relationship to non-owners? Based on these questions, the research project develops a typology of ownership sense, drawing on sociological and legal contributions to a theory of ownership. The empirical basis for this are more than 45 narrative interviews with members of the wealthiest families in Germany (0.01%). In the analysis, three types of ownership sense can be condensed: venture, steward, and governor owners. Each of these types defines in a specific way the relations between the owning subject, the owned object and the non-owners, and each is accompanied by a typical wealth behaviour. This project contributes to the understanding of social inequality, the diversity of the wealth elite and their economic power.