Corruption – Culture and society – Society
We explain what corruption is and the types of corruption in different areas. Also, what are the acts of corruption?
What is corruption?
In the first instance, corruption refers to something that has gone to waste, which passes into a state of rot or perversion, altering the basic properties and becoming much more cloudy and negative.
The term comes from combining two Latin words: break and heart. That metaphorical sense means the loss of an object’s essence or value.
types of corruption
There are two primary meanings of the term: one refers to the rotting of something. At the same time, the other assumes a more symbolic form to refer to human relations, especially power relations.
In the first place, an organism, after its death, begins a degradation process. It is a decomposition (with substances that swell, then dry and rot) by which bodies slowly transform into less complex and simpler forms.
In literature and linguistics, corruption is also called a situation that can occur when a word is used differently than its definition establishes; a phenomenon of linguistic corruption is occurring. It also happens if, in any written work, an alteration appears concerning the original version from a translation, correction, or redaction.
In computing, it is known that the storage of data is not an infallible act. Suppose the bits alter the presentation of the data (which can happen due to a virus attack, a malfunction of the operating system, or simply insufficient transmission data). In that case, it is considered a corrupt file.
When we talk about the corruption of minors, it is because there is an adult who, abusing a vulnerable situation, subjects a minor to activities such as prostitution, which can seriously disturb him psychologically, thus corrupting his personality and psychological development.
In politics, the concept of corruption refers to the act of abuse of power to obtain a general economic benefit that does not respond to the functions that authority assigns. With this, the relationship with the etymological spirit of the term is seen: in politics, management must have a philosophical foundation of seeking the common good, and the violation of that by pursuing individual interests is one of the quintessential acts of treason, and therefore, of corruption.
acts of corruption
But specifically, what are we talking about when we mention acts of corruption? Here are some examples:
- Extortion under the protection of high positions in public or private function forces other people to do things beyond their roles.
- The falsification of public awards, with false contracts and outside the channels that the law imposes.
- Influence peddling, using benefits or friendships in hierarchical positions to favor or harm causes or projects.
- The illegal use or bad intentions of the goods that have been conferred for another service.
- The lack of ethics, especially at high hierarchical levels. It is a crime for an official to see an illicit act and not report it or notice it.
Corruption appears both in public and private functions and has more than negative consequences for most organizations that do not know how to combat it: it favors the reproduction of bureaucracies, limits the credibility of governments, reduces resources for honest work, and naturalizes these facts, which considerably harm those who, with their money or with their support, legitimize that organization. These issues often cross even justice, the police, or sports.
The debate on corruption usually appears in most of the world’s democracies, and there is no lack of political parties that are d champions in the fight against corruption. The truth is that to solve these problems, a change in the ordinary sense of society and a culture of belonging to the decisions made in the upper strata of organizations, which that society legitimizes, is needed.