Of course, the protektzia system is far from perfect. The Western system is much more democratic, and people from many countries are disturbed by anything smacking of Russian culture.

On the other hand, protektzia has disadvantages only for those who lack it. Those people are likely to be jealous of those who do have and benefit from protektzia. The "haves" are perceived to have benefits that the "have nots" were not able to obtain.

It may also be observed that those with protektzia have visible advantages:

• They may have been able to obtain a job in a difficult job market
• They may have been able to get the specific job they wanted
• They may have purchased a home at preferential mortgage rates
• They may have been able to to enrol their children in prestigious schools
• They may be able to pay for a simcha such as a wedding with easy installments

In each of these cases, it is difficult to consider these issues "disadvantages." Rather, they are troublesome to some people because others were able to achieve preferential treatment.

---

Are you required to read this webpage for a course? Do NOT print out the article. It is copyrighted.
Your exercise for this article is as follows:

Click here for subject and title lists of articles by David Grossman

Copyright © David Grossman. World rights reserved. This article may not be printed, forwarded, reproduced, or copied in any way or in any medium without written permission from David Grossman.

Keyword: Employment
/GrossmanIsrael/Articles/Protektzia/Disadvantages

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws