good old boys
Local power network
Good old boys are men, typically white and Southern, who share informal networks of friendship, loyalty, and mutual favor.
The term suggests a clubby insider culture where connections matter more than credentials: The county contracts always go to the same good old boys.
It can be neutral—describing genuine camaraderie among longtime friends—or critical, implying cronyism and exclusion of outsiders, women, and minorities.
Also good ole boys.
- palsInformal term for companions
- buddiesInformal term for friends
- matesFriends or breeding partners
- cronyismFavoring friends in appointments
- old boy networkInformal elite mutual-aid system
clique · inner circle · fraternity · country club · insiders · brotherhood · camaraderie · comrades · fellows · insular · ally · loyalty · power brokers · smoke filled room · backroom · exclusive · patriarchal · Southern
- Southern PoliticsDixiecrats, Jim Crow, poll tax, poll taxes, one-party rule
- Hicksploitationmoonshine runners, bootleggers, Southern Gothic
- corruptioncorruption, graft, kickbacks, bribery, bribes
- inner circlesinner circle, inner ring, inner sanctum, in-group, ingroup
- local politicstown council, city councils, town meeting, mayors, alderman
- shadow powerpuppet master, puppeteer, string puller, string pulling, string-pulling
good old boysoutsiders
Those not belonging
newcomers · interlopers · arrivistes · parvenus · strivers
good old boysmarginalized groups
People systematically excluded from mainstream
minorities · women · people of color · immigrants · underrepresented groups
good old boysmeritocracy
Advancement through demonstrated ability
equal opportunity · fair competition · merit-based selection · blind review · diversity initiatives
good, goods, goodness, goodly, oldest, eldest, boys, boyish, boyhood