adopted

Those who enriched themselves, whether in professional or commercial life in the Victorian age,ended up, very often, joining the peerage. Everything was determined by pedigree, adopted or otherwise.(A. N . After the Victorians)
Q: "Adopted":What matters most is their family background，whether they chose to live here (not born here) or not? No blood relation but accepted into their family?
Thanks.

ShareisBeauty said:

Everything was determined by pedigree, adopted or otherwise.

I take it to mean pedigree could either be decided by birth (people born into upper-class families) or "adopted" or "obtained" (people coming up and making successes of themselves).

It goes with the previous sentence that says those who "enriched themselves" often ended up joining the peerage.