Sociological Study of the Perception of Corruption and Related Social Factors in Societies with a Culture of Nepotism: Study of Khorramabad

There have been many positive and negative consequences for nepotism in sociological studies, but the effect of nepotism in the administrative system has become a plague for it. Nepotism, which is one of the dimensions of corruption, accelerates the growth of other aspects of corruption. The perception of corruption is more important than the actual amount of corruption. Therefore, the present study seeks to answer two questions. 1) What is the situation of the citizens of Khorramabad about corruption and its different dimensions? 2) What are the most important social factors that affect it? The social disorganization approach has been used to answer these two fundamental questions and their subordinate questions. In this approach, the emphasis is on Durkheim, Merton, and Parsons. The research method is Survey with a questionnaire, and the sample is 400 people. The sampling method is cluster sampling. Findings show that more than half of the respondents believe that the level of corruption is high in Khorramabad, and About half of them have moderate corruption perceptions. Abuse of office position and nepotism are the most critical factors affecting corruption. The variables of the level of religious commitment of office staff, their social capital, administrative supervision, and transparency and accountability have a significant relationship with citizens' perception of corruption. The two variables of administrative supervision and employees' social capital explain the variance of perception of corruption more than other variables. Increasing citizens' perception of corruption in Khorramabad city increases the likelihood of corruption if the situation is provided to citizens. Such a situation cannot provide a reasonable prospect of administrative efficiency.Keywords: Perception of corruption, Khorramabad city, Social capital, Administrative supervision, nepotism.