white collar crime

• What is white collar crime?


  Pearce 1976 says white collar crime is committed by MC individuals who abuse their work position for personal gain eg. offences such as bribery, corruption

  This is for personal gain
• What are the different explanations of white collar crimes?

  • Marxist
  • left realists
  • postmodernism
  • labelling theory
  • differential association
  • Hirschi control theory
  • strain theory
• What is strain theory?


  Merton argues that deviance is caused by not being able to achieve societal goals. Box argues that if a company cannot achieve goal of maximizing profits legitimately they may turn to illegitimate means. Clinard and Yaegar 1980 - law violations of large companies increase as they financially decreased, suggesting a willingness for 'innovation' to achieve goals.
• What is differential association?


  Sutherland 1940 sees crime as behaviour learned from others in a social context. The less we associate with people who hold attitudes favourable towards the law, the more they hold criminal attitudes therefore are more likely to become deviant themselves. If a companies culture justifies criminal acts to achieve corporate goals the more likely workers are to become deviant
• What is labelling theory?


  Sociologists have applied labelling theory to crimes called de-labelling. Nelken 2012 says that unlike poor, businesses have the power to avoid labels. eg. businesses can afford experts like lawyers and accountants to help them avoid activities they are involved in.

  The inability of law enforcement agencies investigate and prosecute reduces the number of cases officially recorded.