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In Praise of Nepotism: A Natural History Adam Bellow. New York: Doubleday, 2003.
Nepotism has negative overtones. The dictionary calls it favoritism shown to a relative, often undeserved. The term nepotismo was coined in the fifteenth century to describe the corrupt practice of appointing papal relatives, usually illegitimate, to papal offices. Today it often implies hiring one who is grossly incompetent. This violates our sense of fairness, a way for the rich to warehouse their unemployable relatives. It leads to class domination.
That was the old nepotism. The new nepotism of our generation thinks of nepotism as creating elites that are a practical necessity for any society. But what kind of elite should we have? Should it be closed...