Class and crime Flashcards
explanation of w/c crime
Functionalism – Merton – strain to anomie
Functionalist subcultural theories – A Cohen
Right Realism – Murray
Traditional Marxism
New Criminology – Taylor, Walton and Young
Left Realism – Lea and Young
Interactionism- labelling of w/c
Traditional marxists explanation to m/c crime
the dog eat dog competition for profit encouraged by capitalism can lead the r/c to use CC to maximise profits. CC is also a result of the normal functioning of capitalism – as the goal is to maximise profit it inevitably causes harm which can also be criminal, e.g. avoiding H&S legislation which harms workers. Box argues that capitalism has created mystification – it has spread the ideology that WCC and CC is less widespread and harmful and the state does not enforce such laws in order to protect the r/c. Pearce argues that r/c crimes are rarely prosecuted which creates the illusion r/c crime is an exception rather than the norm, thus avoiding the crisis of legitimacy for capitalism.
Strain theory explanation to m/c crime
Box combines Marxism with Merton’s strain theory to explain CC. He argues corporations in a capitalist society are criminogenic because, when a corporation’s profits are down because their legitimate opportunities for profit are blocked, they may engage in illegal means to increase profits thus they innovate to achieve profit goals. Clinard and Yeager’s study shows that as profits fall, law violations by large companies increase, showing a willingness to innovate to achieve profit goals. These illegal means can include selling unsafe products , not complying with H&S standards, etc. especially in LEDCs where there are fewer government controls.
Differential associations
(exp of m/c crime)
Sutherland –argues that crime is behaviour learned from others in a social context such as the workplace whereby individuals are socialised into criminality by those they associate with. Thus, if an individual works in a company
that normalises criminality to achieve profit goals, they will learn to act in that way. As they are under pressure to meet the company’s profit driven targets, they are likely to join a s/c within the workplace which will provide them with the illegitimate means to do so. Sykes and Matza argue that individuals deviate more easily if they can justify it through techniques of neutralisation such as saying they were just following orders, victim blaming and thinking everyone else is doing it. Learning these techniques is part
of the process of being socialised into a deviant corporate culture.
Labelling explanation for m/c crime
Labelling – m/c do commit crime, but their crimes do not appear in OCS because they negotiate non-criminal labels for their actions. Nelken calls this de-labelling. The CJS also tends not to bring prosecutions against such crimes so they do not appear in OCS,
but this does not mean WCC and CC do not happen.
define WHite collar crimes
Sutherland – defined white collar crime as ‘a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation’.
It is also known as occupational crime - crime committed at the expense of the organisation,
Corporate crime
crime committed by an organisation for its own benefit in the knowledge of those who run it.
These crimes are committed in the pursuit of profit.
The scale of corporate crime
Tombs argues that CC has a huge cost:
Physical – deaths, injuries and illnesses
Environmental – pollution
Economic – to consumers, workers, taxpayers.
He argues CC is widespread and routine and that it does far
more harm than street crimes.
Types of CC
Financial fraud – tax evasion, bribery, money laundering and illegal accounting. Victims include other companies, shareholders, taxpayers and gov.
Crimes against consumers – making and selling products that are unfit for human consumption, e.g. Ford Pinto in the 1970s caused between 500 and 700 deaths in the USA due to mechanical faults the company was fully aware of.
Crimes against employees – include sexual and racial discrimination, violation of wage laws, breaches of health and safety laws. Tombs argues 1100 work-related deaths a year are a result of employers breaking the law.
Crimes against the environment – polluting the environment through illegal disposal of waste.
State corporate crime - these happen when the gov collaborates with businesses to pursue their goals.
Abuse of trust
Carrabine et al - high status professionals occupy positions of trust but those positions and status give them the opportunity to abuse the trust we have in them.
For example, dentists have claimed money from the NHS for treatments they have not carried out on patients.
Crimes such as these violate the trust society places in professionals.
Sutherland argues this makes CC and WCC a greater threat to
society than street crimes as it promotes cynicism and distrust of
basic social institutions.
reasons for under-representation of WCC and CC in the OCS
The media – give limited coverage to WCC and CC which reinforces the view that crime is a w/c phenomenon. They also use sanitised language that presents WCC and CC as a technical infringement rather than as a crime.
De-labelling – CC tend not to be criminalised, they are seen as civil rather than criminal offences. Even when they are prosecuted, the punishment is often a fine rather than jail.
Under-reporting – it is often difficult to identify the victim of CC as it is the society at large and even when it is an individual that is the victim, they may not be aware
of it or feel powerless to take on the large corporations.
+c of invisibility of WCC and CC
since the 2008 economic crisis, CC has become more visible as a result of the activities of organisations such as Occupy, UK Uncut as well as journalists and whistle-blowers.
