SOC208H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: White-Collar Crime, Travis Hirschi, Corporate Crime
Document Summary
Benson & simpson chapter 3: explaining white-collar crime: traditional criminological theories. A truly adequate criminological theory should account for or explain crime in all its different forms (sutherland, 1940) Sutherland thought that attitudes and cultural orientations that define illegal business behaviour in favourable terms are pervasive throughout the business world: newcomers to the business world are socialized to accept these attitudes and orientations. They learn how to commit certain offenses and how to rationalize them so that they are seen as acceptable in the offenders mind. The mere presence of definitions favorable to the violation of law is not enough by itself to cause white-collar crime. Definitions favourable to violation of law must of sufficient magnitude or. Weight so as to overwhelm competing definitions unfavorable to violations of law: according to sutherland, in the world of business, this condition is satisfied because of isolation and social disorganization.
