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White-collar crime: Theory and research
Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 9, pp. 333-334 ( 1981 ). Pergamon Press, Printed in U.S.A.
0(147-2352/81/(14(t333-(/2502.[10/0 Copyright © 1981 Pergamon Press Ltd
BOOK REVIEW White-Collar Crime: Theory and Research (Sage Criminal Justice System Annuals, Volume 13) edited by Gilbert Geis and Ezra Stotland. Sage Publications (275 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90212), 1980, 320 pp., hardcover--$20.00, softcover--$9.95.
White Collar Crime: Theory and Research is the thirteenth volume in the Sage series of criminal justice system annuals. I was left with the impression that the contents of this one volume may be as diverse as the contents of the other 12 considered together. Perhaps this impression can be attributed to personal limitations; I am more knowledgeable about organizations than crime. But it seems equally possible that this diversity is characteristic of the field, if it can be called that, of white-collar crime. Then again, it may only be the successful reflection of one of the editors' stated goals. Geiss and Stotland write: We deliberately have avoided the conceptual and terminological issues involved in white-collar crime definitions. Instead, we relied on an intuitively satisfying understanding of white-collar crime as a broad term that encompasses a wide range of offenses, abuses, and crimes whose outer boundaries are as yet ill-drawn and perhaps not precisely definable. I would not recommend this volume, then, to persons concerned with drawing boundaries around types of crime or seeking to compare one type to another. There are, however, many other reasons why a diverse set of readers may find parts or all of this collection quite useful. Geis
and Stotland highlight five themes which they find descriptive of the collection in its entirety. The primary purpose, according to the editors, is a demonstration that the quality of research in the area of whitecollar crime is improving, and correlatively that research meeting the highest standards can be done with white-collar crime as a focus. I guess the editors see this as both a call to arms and a challenge: white-collar crime is an area where the tools of the social science trade can be applied with satisfactory results. One could quibble about how high the standards can be in an area of research the boundaries of which are illdrawn and perhaps undefinable. But this quibble may be only a difference in strategies about how to advance an area of study. As for the individual chapters themselves, there is variation to be sure, but on the whole the contributions are of high quality. The theoretical discussions provoke thought. The current and historical case studies not only are rich and engaging but also avoid overgeneralization. The quantitative studies are, in my opinion, the most uneven. But, to single out two of the better ones, Schrager and Short reanalyze survey data to compare public perception of seriousness of organizational and traditional street crimes. Contrary to much theorizing, Schrager and Short find seriousness related to level of harm and type of harm, rather than status of the perpetrator (organization versus street criminal). Maltz and Pollock demonstrate the utility of operations research strategies in investigating the likelihood of collusion among bidding contractors. Their point is that statistical analysis can guide prosecutors toward the most
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334
BOOK REVIEW
likely cases of collusion, a highly practical goal. It would be nice to see what the authors could do with the same data within an interorganizational (or some other) theoretical framework. The other themes of this collection, as seen by Geis and Stotland, are (1) an interest in legal definitions of crime and deterrence, (2) the complex processes leading to the d e v e l o p m e n t and enactment of white-collar proscriptions and the interaction between law formation and law enforcement, (3) the relationship of crime to organizational structure and process, and (4) public evaluation of white-collar crime and perceptions of individual and corporate victims. For me, the strongest contributions were achieved within the second and third of these themes. Neal Shover's examination of federal legislation concerning surface coal mining, W. G. Carson's examination of the early British Factory Acts, and Charles Reasons' and Colin G o f f ' s comparison of combine legislation in England, Australia, and Canada are worthy additions to the growing sociology of societal-level social control and the involvement of complex organizations in shaping social control strategies. All three of these studies take as their theoretical springboard the comparative utility of liberal-pluralist and conflict theories of society in the examination of the initiation, passage, and revision of regulatory and criminal legislation. Much unlike some of the recent radical criminology, these three contributions are admirably sensitive to the complex and fragmentary organization of industrialized societies and are successful in identifying those aspects of social control processes which make consensus and conflict positions complementary rather than mutually exclusive orientations. These three studies of the interaction of
industrial corporations in societal control find a valuable companion in Edward Gross' "Organization Structure and Organizational Crime." Gross is more concerned with the structure and process of complex organizations than with any type of crime. Rather than approach organizations with the repertoire of a criminologist, Gross approaches crime as a high probability outcome of normal organizational operations. I found Gross's paper very useful in my current task of conceptualizing those organizational variables which increase or decrease the likelihood that professional employees will publicly dissent from the decisions or actions of their corporations. The utility of Gross' paper, in the study of all sorts of corporate wrongdoing and in the study of conflicts between organizations and their external environments, is considerable. In summary, 1 can recommend this book for many reasons beyond what it says or doesn't say about white-collar crime. Were I to make any stab at refining the ill-drawn boundaries on the basis of this reading, I think I would humbly suggest a distinction between white-collar crime and the study of organizational processes which allow or promote deviance. Or perhaps it would be better simply to drop the term "whitecollar," since the majority of the studies included here say nothing about the behavior of persons in positions of trust who misuse organizational assets for their own gain. The majority of the studies examine organizations which further their own ends at the expense of people.
David E. Duffee School of Criminal Justice State University of New York at Albany Albany, New York 12222
0(147-2352/81/(14(t333-(/2502.[10/0 Copyright © 1981 Pergamon Press Ltd
BOOK REVIEW White-Collar Crime: Theory and Research (Sage Criminal Justice System Annuals, Volume 13) edited by Gilbert Geis and Ezra Stotland. Sage Publications (275 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90212), 1980, 320 pp., hardcover--$20.00, softcover--$9.95.
White Collar Crime: Theory and Research is the thirteenth volume in the Sage series of criminal justice system annuals. I was left with the impression that the contents of this one volume may be as diverse as the contents of the other 12 considered together. Perhaps this impression can be attributed to personal limitations; I am more knowledgeable about organizations than crime. But it seems equally possible that this diversity is characteristic of the field, if it can be called that, of white-collar crime. Then again, it may only be the successful reflection of one of the editors' stated goals. Geiss and Stotland write: We deliberately have avoided the conceptual and terminological issues involved in white-collar crime definitions. Instead, we relied on an intuitively satisfying understanding of white-collar crime as a broad term that encompasses a wide range of offenses, abuses, and crimes whose outer boundaries are as yet ill-drawn and perhaps not precisely definable. I would not recommend this volume, then, to persons concerned with drawing boundaries around types of crime or seeking to compare one type to another. There are, however, many other reasons why a diverse set of readers may find parts or all of this collection quite useful. Geis
and Stotland highlight five themes which they find descriptive of the collection in its entirety. The primary purpose, according to the editors, is a demonstration that the quality of research in the area of whitecollar crime is improving, and correlatively that research meeting the highest standards can be done with white-collar crime as a focus. I guess the editors see this as both a call to arms and a challenge: white-collar crime is an area where the tools of the social science trade can be applied with satisfactory results. One could quibble about how high the standards can be in an area of research the boundaries of which are illdrawn and perhaps undefinable. But this quibble may be only a difference in strategies about how to advance an area of study. As for the individual chapters themselves, there is variation to be sure, but on the whole the contributions are of high quality. The theoretical discussions provoke thought. The current and historical case studies not only are rich and engaging but also avoid overgeneralization. The quantitative studies are, in my opinion, the most uneven. But, to single out two of the better ones, Schrager and Short reanalyze survey data to compare public perception of seriousness of organizational and traditional street crimes. Contrary to much theorizing, Schrager and Short find seriousness related to level of harm and type of harm, rather than status of the perpetrator (organization versus street criminal). Maltz and Pollock demonstrate the utility of operations research strategies in investigating the likelihood of collusion among bidding contractors. Their point is that statistical analysis can guide prosecutors toward the most
333
334
BOOK REVIEW
likely cases of collusion, a highly practical goal. It would be nice to see what the authors could do with the same data within an interorganizational (or some other) theoretical framework. The other themes of this collection, as seen by Geis and Stotland, are (1) an interest in legal definitions of crime and deterrence, (2) the complex processes leading to the d e v e l o p m e n t and enactment of white-collar proscriptions and the interaction between law formation and law enforcement, (3) the relationship of crime to organizational structure and process, and (4) public evaluation of white-collar crime and perceptions of individual and corporate victims. For me, the strongest contributions were achieved within the second and third of these themes. Neal Shover's examination of federal legislation concerning surface coal mining, W. G. Carson's examination of the early British Factory Acts, and Charles Reasons' and Colin G o f f ' s comparison of combine legislation in England, Australia, and Canada are worthy additions to the growing sociology of societal-level social control and the involvement of complex organizations in shaping social control strategies. All three of these studies take as their theoretical springboard the comparative utility of liberal-pluralist and conflict theories of society in the examination of the initiation, passage, and revision of regulatory and criminal legislation. Much unlike some of the recent radical criminology, these three contributions are admirably sensitive to the complex and fragmentary organization of industrialized societies and are successful in identifying those aspects of social control processes which make consensus and conflict positions complementary rather than mutually exclusive orientations. These three studies of the interaction of
industrial corporations in societal control find a valuable companion in Edward Gross' "Organization Structure and Organizational Crime." Gross is more concerned with the structure and process of complex organizations than with any type of crime. Rather than approach organizations with the repertoire of a criminologist, Gross approaches crime as a high probability outcome of normal organizational operations. I found Gross's paper very useful in my current task of conceptualizing those organizational variables which increase or decrease the likelihood that professional employees will publicly dissent from the decisions or actions of their corporations. The utility of Gross' paper, in the study of all sorts of corporate wrongdoing and in the study of conflicts between organizations and their external environments, is considerable. In summary, 1 can recommend this book for many reasons beyond what it says or doesn't say about white-collar crime. Were I to make any stab at refining the ill-drawn boundaries on the basis of this reading, I think I would humbly suggest a distinction between white-collar crime and the study of organizational processes which allow or promote deviance. Or perhaps it would be better simply to drop the term "whitecollar," since the majority of the studies included here say nothing about the behavior of persons in positions of trust who misuse organizational assets for their own gain. The majority of the studies examine organizations which further their own ends at the expense of people.
David E. Duffee School of Criminal Justice State University of New York at Albany Albany, New York 12222