And the opposite does not? It makes calling in the debt owed much more discrete, which means the corruption is more conscious, but the transactional nature would foster corruption among those who are of higher power instead of those who are family.
In the culture grandparent comment describe, if someone comes into my office, any favoritism will be based on their being close to my family.
In a culture without that, if someone comes into my office, any favoritism will be based on their ability to offer me favoritism.
If anything, our system is worse because favoritism among the powerful is a worse problem that favoritism among families and friends.
>In a culture without that, if someone comes into my office, any favoritism will be based on their ability to offer me favoritism
So your first point is: one hand washes the other. I will show favoritism to people who can be of some benefit to me. Sounds like merit based favoritism. So for example could I show favoritism to a guy that works really hard? Is that corruption? Or I show favoritism to a guy who can invest in my company because his family has money? Is that corruption? (probably more so than the first example but I'm not sure).
The second point favoritism among the powerful is worse than the familial sort, because of your first point.
If anything it seems that the opposite is true because according to your logic the favoritism here is more merit based.
In the culture grandparent comment describe, if someone comes into my office, any favoritism will be based on their being close to my family.
In a culture without that, if someone comes into my office, any favoritism will be based on their ability to offer me favoritism.
If anything, our system is worse because favoritism among the powerful is a worse problem that favoritism among families and friends.