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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–4Cite as

Nepotism

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Definition

Nepotism is the favoring of kin over nonkin in resource allocation, nurturing, or attention.

Introduction

At first sight, nepotism is quite obviously a product of evolutionary processes, by virtue of being an extension of genetic self-interest. As Forbes (2005, p. 83) puts it, paraphrasing Richard Dawkins: “Children are the vehicles that carry a parent’s genetic immortality.” The evolutionary origins of the word are visible in its ontogeny, a linguistic route from the mid-seventeenth century: nipote “nephew.” The Popes bestowed privileges on their “nephews” who in reality were more often than not their illegitimate sons. This perfectly illustrates the contemporary meaning in social life: patronage in public life on the basis of family relatedness. Some definitions include the favoring of friends, which shall be treated as a special case later in this entry.

Issues and Dilemmas

Yet there are potential conflicts of interest in nepotism, the primary one being the question of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Organisational Behaviour, London Business School, London, UK

    Nigel Nicholson

Authors
  1. Nigel Nicholson
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Correspondence to Nigel Nicholson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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Nicholson, N. (2016). Nepotism. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3083-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3083-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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