Law and social norms constitute, within our society, the poles of an inescapable dialectic. In specific cases, taken individually, its outcomes appear diverse. Many factors can influence this. Among these are certainly the nature, as well as the extent, of the interests at stake in the dispute and, naturally, the power held by social groups. It is precisely within this framework that the issue of white-collar deviance and, consequently, Edwin Sutherland find their place.
Sutherland and the white collars
Not all deviant behaviors are equally prevalent among different social groups. It's clear that each group produces a particular type of deviant behavior. While this may seem almost obvious today, it wasn't until the first half of the last century. At the time, the concept of deviance coincided with that of crime , and this was found among the lower classes: murder, theft, prostitution, juvenile delinquency, and we could go on.
Statistics showed that this type of crime was a phenomenon common to the lower classes. Records of events in courts and police stations were important. Edwin Sutherland entered this historical context. In an essay like this, he argued that a type of deviance was attributable to respectable people , those with high socio-professional status, wearing clean collars, and therefore white.
The author stated in "White Collar Criminality" that these types of violations were "committed by respectable individuals, possessing high social status, in the performance of their professional roles." He particularly examined the business and medical worlds. For the former, these included stock market manipulation , financial law procedures, bribery of public officials, legislative concessions, and advertising fraud. For the latter, the sale of prohibited products, abortion, treatment of fugitive criminals, false medical reports, and the division of fees among colleagues.
Characteristics of white-collar workers
The situation is one in which the deviant exploits his professional knowledge to achieve a goal contrary to his professional ethics . For Sutherland, " white-collar crime is real crime." It is a type of true deviance, and this is for three clear reasons.
From a legal and social perspective, these behaviors are prohibited by specific legal provisions and violate shared social expectations. Economically, they deprive the community of wealth. Last but not least, from an ethical perspective, white-collar deviance is committed behind the backs and to the detriment of helpless victims such as small savers, consumers, and individuals in need. Sutherland went beyond the essay and, in 1950, wrote the book "White Collar Crime," in which he outlined the histories of 70 American corporations, all subject to criminal or civil proceedings. This book maintained the definition of white-collar deviance as: "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation."
Learned behavior
We can identify several significant points in Sutherland's theory. The first is that criminal behavior is learned, in particular, through interaction with other people during the communication process. Learning criminal behavior occurs largely in close-knit personal groups. This includes techniques suitable for committing a crime (simple or complex depending on the case); motives, attitudes, rationalizations, and initiative; these directions are learned through favorable or unfavorable definitions of legal codes. It follows that a person becomes delinquent when the favorable definitions of breaking the law outnumber the unfavorable ones.
Associations can vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. Learning criminal behavior can be defined as a process involving all the mechanisms inherent in any other behavior. Probably the most important merit of Sutherland's theory is that it has allowed us to undermine the almost systematic relationship between deviance and poverty.
Bring about social change
Since Sutherland, this type of category has enjoyed significant success, with entire volumes devoted to it. However, some limitations can be highlighted in a theory developed with little conceptual rigor. Sutherland's primary goal was to bring about social change , a goal that was achieved.
The author intended to change prevailing thinking . For example, finding a doctor who had stolen was not only a crime, but also a source of scandal, a demotion, precisely because he had engaged in deviant behavior that was out of line with his social status. While on the one hand, a robbery, perhaps even resulting in murder, is viewed negatively, on the other hand, tax evasion without any deaths is also viewed negatively.
Born in Catanzaro on July 5, 1989, he has been a member of the Order of Journalists (Freelance Journalists) since 2017. He earned a bachelor's degree in Social Work in 2013, a bachelor's degree in Sociology in 2016, and a master's degree in Organizations and Social Change in 2018. In 2020, he earned his fourth degree in Economics. He has also published three volumes of a science fiction trilogy.
