nepotism

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Bring the gift of knowledge home for the holidays with the 
Eleventh Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?c11.htm&1
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The Word of the Day for December 11 is:

nepotism   \NEP-uh-tiz-um\   noun
     : favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship

Example sentence:
     Being the son of the CEO, Jamie knew he got his position as marketing 
director partly through nepotism, but he nevertheless felt confident that he 
had the know-how and imagination to improve sales.

Did you know?
     During his papacy from 1471-1484, Sixtus IV granted many special favors to 
members of his own family, in particular his nephews. This practice of papal 
favoritism was carried on by his successors, and in 1667 it was the subject of 
Gregorio Leti's book _Il Nipotismo di Roma_ -- a history of the popes' nephews. 
(In Italian, "nepote" means "nephew.") Shortly after the book's appearance, 
"nepotism" began to be used in English for the showing of special favor or 
unfair preference to a relative by someone in any position of power, be it 
ecclesiastical or not.