Explanations for Corporate Crime
- Created by: chocolateflavouredmilk
- Created on: 01-03-20 16:59
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- Explanations of Corporate Crime
- Strain Theory
- Merton's strain theory argues that deviance results form the inability to achieve goals that society's culture prescribes by using legitimate means.
- Box uses this theory to explain corporate crime.
- He argues that if a company cannot achieve its goal by maximising profit by legal means, it may do so through illegal means.
- Clinard and Yeager found law violations by large companies increased as their financial performance deteriorated.
- Differential Association
- Sutherland sees crime as behaviour learned from other in a social context
- The less we associate with people who hold attitudes favouring the law, and the more we associate with people with criminal attitudes, the more likely we are to become deviant.
- If a company's culture justified committing crimes to achieve corporate goals, employees will be socialised into this criminality.
- We can link the idea of differential association to two other concepts
- Deviant Subculture: they offer deviant solutions to their member' shared problems
- The culture of businesses may favour and promote competitive, aggressive personality types who are willing to commit crime to achieve success
- Techniques of Neutralisation: Sykes and Matza argue that individuals can deviate more easily if they can produce justifications to neutralise their moral objectification.
- White collar criminals may blame the authority for their actions and normalise it with a 'everyone is doing it' attitude.
- Deviant Subculture: they offer deviant solutions to their member' shared problems
- Sutherland sees crime as behaviour learned from other in a social context
- Labelling Theory
- Typically, it is the working-class who are more likely to have their actions defines as crimes.
- De-labelling: sociologists have applied this to white or corporate crimes.
- Businesses and professionals often have the power to avoid labelling through economic wealth to afford lawyers and accountants.
- The reluctance or inability of law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute also reduces the number of offences officially recorded.
- This means sociologists who rely on official records and statistics will inevitably under-estimate the extent to these offences.
- Marxism
- Corporate crime is the result of the normal functioning of capitalism.
- Box argues that capitalism has successfully created 'mystification', that is, it has spread ideology that corporate crime is less widespread and harmful than working-class crime.
- Peare argues that this sustains the illusion that it is the exception rather than the norms, and thus avoids causing a crisis of legitimacy for capitalism.
- Capitalism comply with the law only if it is enforced strictly, where effective controls are lacking, such as in developing countries, capitalism shows its true face.
- Evaluation
- Both strain theory and Marxism seem to over-predict the amount of business crime. Nelken argues, it is unrealistic to assume that all companies would offend if there was not a risk of punishment.
- It doesn't explain crime in non-profit making agencies, such as the police, army of civil-service
- Law abiding may also be more profitable than law breaking
- Strain Theory
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