|
Nepotism is the act of favoring one's family members in a situation where doing so is considered
inappropriate. For instance, a manager in a firm is generally expected to promote the most competent persons, in order that the
firm may succeed. For that manager to promote an incompetent relative over a more-qualified employee is nepotism.
The word nepotism comes from the Latin word for nephew.
Some biologists have suggested that a tendency towards nepotism is instinctual, a form of kin selection.
Nepotism is a common accusation in politics when the relative of a powerful figure ascends to similar power seemingly without
appropriate qualifications. For example, in America, politically powerful families such as the Kennedy family and Bush family in American
politics are sometimes accused of nepotism by critics. Families elsewhere have also dominated politics of their homeland, such as
Tun Abdul Razak, second Prime Minister of Malaysia and his son, Najib Tun Razak, current Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, or Lee Kuan Yew (first Prime Minister of Singapore) and his son, Lee Hsien Loong (current Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and due to succeed Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister by the end of 2004).
See also: cronyism
This article is a stub. You can
help Wikipedia by expanding it .
|