White-Collar Criminals

Running head : White Collar Criminals

White Collar Criminals - Sociology of Deviance

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White Collar Criminals

Crime has remained an integral part of our society since its inception and will continue to plague it for times to come . Our society is inhabited with such kind of people who are capable of committing serious violations of the social norms and regulations . Despite deliberate efforts of law enforcers , the crime is getting more sophisticated and adopting wider scope . Many criminologists consider crime as one of the form of deviance . Some consider crime a

type of abnormal behavior whereas others feel that it is a more conscious response to social conditions . As cultures and values differ from place to place in the same way criminals may also vary . Any act that violates law and thus deemed punishable is called crime . Birkbeck Lafree noted that criminality is a necessary but not sufficient cause for crime to occur as it requires other situational motives in the form of motivation and opportunity . Crime hence relates to various events or set of conditions depending upon the culture and norms of society (1993 . Although most of the experts acknowledged importance of the situation in explaining crime , but the most recognized theories of criminal behavior have focused on criminality . There had been various theories trying to rationalize the deviance in human behavior . Biological reasons though quite intriguing , but most appealing had been the sociological theories of deviance

There are various reasons of focus on the criminality but some of them are quite important and relevant . Crimes and criminal can be divided into various categories one major category that is being in focus quite recently is that of white-collar crime . White-collar crime is a term coined by Edward Sutherland (1966 ) for nonviolent crimes committed by corporations or individuals such as office workers or sales personnel (see white-collar workers ) in the course of their business activities These crimes generally include embezzlement , false advertising , bribery unfair competition , tax evasion , and unfair labor practices . The white collar criminals are normally supposed to have good self-concepts during their early life . But according to researches it is the strong self-concepts of these persons that block out their natural , healthy functioning and lead to their white-collar criminal activities . This has been designed to scrutinize the white collar criminals and their activities with perspective from sociology of deviance

1 . Describe why white-collar criminal behavior conforms or fails to conform to societal norms

The standards and norms of every modern society demand conformity to socio-cultural goals and availability to the means of living . This is very important for the stability and continuity of the functioning of society . The social is thus sustained by the behavior of its members living in its confinements . On the contrary rejection of common goals of society is quite rare . Persons who can hardly adjust or can not adjust are in the society but not of real part of it . Sociologically they can be termed as true "aliens " They do not share the...