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In Praise of Nepotism : A Natural History Hardcover – Bargain Price, July 15, 2003
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- Print length576 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJuly 15, 2003
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Product details
- ASIN : B000BZ6UVC
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 576 pages
- Item Weight : 1.85 pounds
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It must be understood that the author has a pretty wide definition of Nepotism. What most people think of, is the misuse of an office to gain privileges for family and friends by corrupt means. The author extends that to any kind of family traditionalism. And says there are good effects as well as bad effects. I can see his point. I have never quite felt the contempt for or indignation at "rich kids" that some have felt for it always seemed a little like blaming people for their ancestry. And I have never felt particularly horrified by the occasional dynastic politician. It seemed to me to kind of humanize politics, and as the alternative would be to have politicians who wanted power or thought they were "what the country needed" perhaps a politician who is running because daddy wants him to isn't so bad as long as he has no institutionalized advantage from it.
As the author points out, a strict meritocracy, should such an impossibility exist, has the danger of creating a ruling class that feels over independent and has little sense of responsibility(this can be corrected, by the way, by instilling esprit de corps in a given meritocracy but perhaps that cannot be institutionalized until it reaches into the family structure in a manner similar to Roman families or Jane Austen style naval families).
The book doesn't just cover government families which is what we would think of, but a wide range of traditional family occupations including, perhaps inevitably, the Mafia. It shows how "Nepotism" rightly understood can produce a drive to succeed just as wrongly understood it can produce corruption.
As is common in such books I liked the historical interest more then "the message"
It's basic point of course is that "nepotism"(as the author defines it) is part of human nature, and it might be better for a society to take advantage of it then to try to destroy it. He does have a point. Maybe it is not just business but it really is personal.
The specifically American version of modern nepotism is described by Bellow as being forgiving toward nepotism for providing entrée into social, employment and power positions so long as the beneficiary subsequently proves themselves by merit. Family fumblers are appropriately punished in the author's view and family dynasties which fail the individual/generational meritocracy test do indeed go "from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations".
The conclusion seemed like a cheap eraser jammed onto the end of an expensive mechanical pencil. It appears to have been cobbled together in a hurry and does not read like carefully reasoned inferences drawn from the historical sections of the book. The conclusion provides prescriptive attitudes regarding nepotism in modern society and this is by far the weakest part of the book.
The irony of writing about nepotism as the son of a famous author is not lost on Bellow. This book will be a boon to nephew-hiring dynasts everywhere.
So if you're in the market for an easier read on the subject, this books is pretty good with a little bit of personality in there.
The second section of the book describes nepotism in America from the 1700s to the present. The waves of American immigration are discussed, the separate cultures of North and South, the rise of the Boston Brahmins, the Roosevelt's and the Kennedy's. Given the claim that nepotism has deep roots in America the book desires to discover how it is that America, alone among the nation of the book made the condemnation of nepotism a prime value, a value that has led to success and strength, including the meritocracy.
A very interesting book, part history, part sociology. The only flaw here is that it concentrates on a few examples and individuals, describing these peoples rise without giving context of the grander scheme of nepotism.
Seth J. Frantzman


