Today I want to write about some phenomenons in the world; Discrimination, Favoritism, and Nepotism. Throughout this post I use some definitions and descriptions from the Wikipedia encyclopedia. First let me compare these concepts. What are the definitions, similarities, and differences of these three concepts?
Discrimination:
Discrimination is a sociological term to the treatment taken toward or against a person of a certain group in consideration based solely on class or category. Discrimination is the actual behavior towards another group. It involves excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to other groups. According to the definition of the United Nations "Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or rejection."
The discrimination involves some very important categories;
- Race and Ethnicity discrimination;
Racial discrimination differentiates between individuals on the basis of real and perceived racial differences and has been official government policy in several countries, such as South Africa in the apartheid era.
- Age discrimination;
Age discrimination is discrimination on the grounds of age. Although theoretically the word can refer to the discrimination against any age group, age discrimination usually comes in one of three forms: discrimination against youth (also called adultism), discrimination against those 40 years old or older, and discrimination against elderly people.
- Sex discrimination;
Though what constitutes sex discrimination varies between countries, the essence is that it is an adverse action taken by one person against another person that would not have occurred had the person been of another sex. Sexual discrimination can arise in different contexts. For instance, an employer may be discriminated against by being asked discriminatory questions during a job interview, or because an employer did not hire, promote or wrongly terminated an employee based on his or her gender, or employers pay unequally based on gender.
Favoritism;
The practice of giving preferential treatment to a person or persons.
Nepotism;
Favoritism shown to nephews or other relatives, as in politics or business.
The differences among the above concepts are now clear based on the definitions and descriptions.
You may ask why I am writing about these concepts. Ok let me tell you why.
I came from a third world country, so called developing country, to a developed country, Canada, about two years ago. I left my country with many pretty aspects. I left my kind family, relatives, and friends. I left the place which I had very wonderful or sometime annoying memories about. In my country, like all the other developing countries, there are the above concepts noticeably around people. I came to a developed country which I believed that these concepts are not even defined theoretically.
However, I was wrong. Yes I was very wrong though I still believe that Canada is one of the best countries regarding these issues. There have been many cases during the two years which I felt the discrimination, the favoritism, and the nepotism. However, I just mention the latest case which I faced. This case made me very disappointed and somehow angry which I complained about to almost everybody who I thought he/she may do something. Though the case involves money, but the main reason which made me disappointed was the favoritism (or maybe I can say discrimination).
For privacy issues and respecting the involved people I don't reveal the names. In the university which I study there is an important award called UMGF. The value of the award is CAD16000 per year for Ph.D. students and CAD12000 per year for master students. According to the application package there are some criteria for getting the award. Every year some UMGF awards are available for every department in the university. This award is mostly given to the students according to the relations of the committee members and the faculty members. For two successive years I did not get that because there are some close friends of the awards committee members in the university which need that more.
This is just a case I have seen as favoritism in Canada. There are lots of cases around people. However, you always have the right to claim against it though most of the times they provide some justifications and you cannot get any good outcome.
