Final answer:
Bribery is an illicit act of giving something of value to influence someone's behavior for personal gain, undermining integrity and legality.
Step-by-step explanation:
Bribery is the offering of something of value in order to gain an illicit advantage. It represents a dishonest or illegal activity where one person gives a gift, money, or favor to another to influence the recipient's behavior to benefit the giver. This can be especially prevalent in scenarios where cheating, misrepresentation of facts, or plagiarism are involved, such as in academic settings or business transactions. Bribery is considered illegal in many jurisdictions as it undermines the integrity of processes and encourages unfair advantages.
James Heinzen's work 'The art of the bribe: corruption and everyday practice in the late Stalinist USSR' provides historical context to the concept of bribery, exploring how it fitted into the wider economic and social culture of a specific time period. The temptation to earn higher profits can, unfortunately, lead firms to engage in bribery, defying laws, and ethical norms.
Similarly, the system of 'blat' in Soviet times highlights the fine line between social networks extending favors and outright bribery, each carrying implications for both the perpetrator and the broader societal structure. The concept of bartering or gift exchange is fundamentally different from bribery, as it involves a mutual and typically open exchange of goods or services, rather than secretive and illicit transactions for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage.