disapproval When people talk about the old-boy network, they are referring to a situation in which people who went to the same public school or university use their positions of influence to help each other. The majority obtained their positions through the old boy network
A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism
His hiring and promotion of senior officers rested not on merit but on an old-boy network of connections from Wall Street and the Social Register.
an exclusive informal network linking members of a social class or profession or organization in order to provide connections and information and favors (especially in business or politics); "professional women have developed an old boy network of theirown