Flipping the nepotism narrative

The media and the world have been arguing about how nepotism is beneficial only to your family or friends. The Cambridge dictionary has defined nepotism as being 'the act of using your power or influence to get good jobs or unfair advantages for members of your own family'.

Let me start my arguement by saying that nepotism is harmful, to the family members and to those who are more deserving of the work. Now I also want to highlight the fact that nepotism exists in all spaces and all families.

Keeping outsiders out

Whether this is seen in the horrendous way that pre-world war Germany aimed to eradicate race or the way that India has become communal and violent towards certain target groups. This kind of victimisation is of course terrible. It may even manifest in Kangana Ranaut speaking up about how much of the film industry of India, particularly Bollywood, has been averse to recognising individuals from outside the industry. Similarly, in Politics the idea of democracy is tarnished when representation does not come from all spaces and groups.

What this would mean is that perhaps the world or spaces are only open to certain individuals of certain backgrounds. 

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Dynasty building and retaining children

However, what of those who are coerced into being in that space to continue a family legacy. It becomes borderline dynastic (vansh parampara); and when that dynasty is broken - whether it is through the demand of a male child 'heir' from women. Catherine of Aragon was divorced and removed, while the country of England went looking for new queens to bear male heirs. Anne Boleyn similarly was also killed and discarded.

Looking elsewhere it might also occur in the way that a child is disinherited from the family if he or she does not continue to work in the same business or job. This disinheritance is not limited to the male-child, because females are also similarly under pressure to continue within the status quo. When a father or mother says, "You are not my child if you do not do this and exactly this."

That is also nepotism. So the world has been pressuring the continuity of nepotism and has glorified it at the grassroots - the family.

Knowledge of who is available

A mentor of mine had pointed out that Ananya Panday should not be asked questions about her opinion of nepotism because her circle of friends and her world has been privileged. Which limits her knowledge of other talent or equally deserving people without the privileges or connections she has had. This is also noticed in the way that citizens of the United States may make generalised assumptions and find their knowledge to be only that of the United States.

To expand on this, let us consider a horse with horse-blinds, it could not be expected of the horse to know that there is green grass at its rear and so keeps going forward with its limited vision.

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Educating and Exposition

But if we look at education and exposing oneself to different skills or lifestyles, the debate is nullified. If the horse had the ability to remove its horse-blinds, it would easily find the grass it craved for. 

With privilege comes the responsibility of seeking out and looking beyond what is easily available. Similarly, a person who has the ability to learn and integrate within cultures is more likely to survive. To paraphrase Darwin, we can look at the idea of survival of the fittest, the fittest being that who is able to adapt and take on genes which have stronger immune systems, etc.

So a person may be more likely to build on their world-view only through education and by integrating and mixing with several different lifestyles and personalities.

Passion

I want to harp on this point for a second more, how often is a worker passionate about what they are doing and what happens when they are not. What is the role of passion in this world? Is it limited only to desires and free-will? Consider the example of a Marie Curie, who worked alongside her husband to study and discovered radioactivity, particularly at a time when women were not given the opportunity to study or even vote.

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Ability

Let us also look at those that fail or find ways to overcome their nepotistic situation. Someone like a Priyanka Chopra who has managed to train her self enough to find her feet in possibly unwelcoming worlds. On the far end is also someone like Shamita Shetty, Uday Chopra, etc. who despite all the privilege is not considered as much of a Bollywood celebrity as their peers. 

So when Rahul Gandhi is not as successful as his father, it may be in defiance of this nepotism and of having the ability to reach out to people as Rajiv Gandhi or Nehru.

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All of these ideas may overlap, but it needs to be looked at from multiple perspectives. 

“Nepotism is a natural part of the human endowment,” says Robert Jones, a professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Missouri State University. How it's perceived is tied to culture, according to Jones. “In China and India, nepotism is a way of life and regarded positively.”

Nepotism exists perhaps because society is more comfortable keeping the status quo and not adapting to change and that has also led to the downside of pressure building within the family system and limited world views. Perhaps flipping the coin into a ball and looking at nepotism from all perspectives would help carry the conversation and narrative forward.