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Opportunism is the practice of taking advantage of circumstances — with little regard for principles or with what the consequences are for others. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term can be applied to individual humans and living organisms, groups, organizations, styles, behaviors and trends.
Opportunism or "opportunistic behaviour" is an important concept in such fields of study as biology, transaction cost economics, game theory, ethics, psychology, sociology and politics.
Etymology
In the early 19th century, the term "opportunist" as a noun or adjective was already known and used in several European languages, but initially, it rarely referred to political processes or to a political tendency. The English term "opportunism" is possibly borrowed originally from the Italian expression opportunismo. In 19th-century Italian politics, it meant "exploiting the prevailing circumstances or opportunities to gain an immediate advantage for oneself or one's own group". However, it is more likely that the English expression was directly borrowed from the French term, when it began to refer specifically to the opportunist Republicans, since the term first entered the English language in the early 1870s. In this sense the meaning "opportunism" has mutated: from those who claimed to advocate a principle (in the original French case, an amnesty for the Communards) but said that the time was not yet "opportune", to what may be thought of as the opposite – those who act without principle.
Human behaviour
In human behavior, opportunism concerns the relationship between people's actions, and their basic principles when faced with opportunities and challenges. The opportunist seeks to gain a personal advantage when an opportunity presents itself, putting self-interest ahead of some other interest, in a way contrary either to a previously established principle or another principle that ought to have higher priority. Hence opportunist behavior is usually regarded at least as questionable or dubious, and at most as unjustifiable or completely illegitimate. Opportunism is regarded as unhealthy, as a disorder or as a character deficiency, if selfishly pursuing an opportunity is blatantly anti-social (involves disregard for the needs, wishes and interests of others). However, behavior can also be regarded as "opportunist" by scholars without any particular moral evaluation being made or implied (simply as a type of self-interested behavior).
Use of the term in specific areas
- Intellectual opportunism
- Sexual opportunism
- Political opportunism
- Economic opportunism – concept of opportunism in economics; term related to the subversion of morality to profitPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
- Legal opportunism
- Spiritual opportunism – Exploitation of spiritual ideas for personal gain, partisan interests or selfish motivesPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
See also
- Business opportunity – Sale or lease enabling the start of a business
- Corruption – Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power
- Enlightened self-interest – Ethical philosophy
- Individualism – Concept regarding the moral worth of the individual
- Jeitinho brasileiro – Brazilian cultural conventionPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- Meritocracy – Political system in which capital is assigned on the basis of expertise
- Opportunity cost – Benefit lost by a choice between options
- Positive accounting
References
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| Pathological narcissism | |
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- Salomone, A. William (October 1962). "The Risorgimento between Ideology and History: The Political Myth of rivoluzione mancata". The American Historical Review. 68 (1): 38–56. doi:10.2307/1847182. JSTOR 1847182.
- According to the Grand Larousse encyclopédique, opportunism was the name given to the cautious reformism and nationalism of French Republicans, who advocated moderate policies to consolidate the French Third Republic after the eviction of the monarchists. The French Opportunists did not call themselves by this name; rather, the term was used by French radicals to describe centrist and center-left politics in the country. Possibly, the term was originally popularized by Victor Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay, who used it in his criticisms of Léon Gambetta.
- Butterworth, Alex (2010). The World That Never Was: A True Story of Schemers, Anarchists, and Secret Agents. Vintage Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780099551928.