AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP CRISIS

American International Group Crisis

American International Group Crisis

Introduction

Within the discipline of criminology, white-collar crime is one of the more challenging forms of law violations to operationalize. Edwin Sutherland, the sociologist who coined the term in a 1939 presidential address to the American International Group (AIG), defined white-collar crime as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” In his influential 1949 text, White Collar Crime, Sutherland specifies that crimes committed by business managers and executives are the primary subjects of this field of study. Likewise, the sociologist, E. A. Ross, who reportedly had the greatest direct influence on Sutherland, popularized the typology of the “criminaloid”: the exploitive businessman whose pursuit of profit maximization lay hidden beneath his respectable status and pious demeanor.

Although the earliest attempts to define white-collar crime tended to focus more on the psychological or social-psychological characteristics of these offense types and offenders (relative to structural, organizational, and/or cultural explanations), many of the key attributes noted by Ross and Sutherland—particularly the offender's abuse of power and trust within his or her occupational context—are central components of white-collar crime studies today. In 1973, Marshall Clinard and Richard Quinney provided one of the most central definitional contributions to white-collar crime when they made the distinction between occupational crime and corporate crime. The former refers to a law violation for personal gain committed by an employee of any status level, and that is made possible through his or her engagement in a legitimate occupation. The latter refers to a law violation by higher-level corporate officers whose illegal behavior is committed on behalf of the corporation itself. Corporate crime also includes illegal acts committed by the corporation.

Discussion

Despite the definitional advances over the last 70 years since Sutherland's landmark ASS presidential address, no singular, universal, agreed-upon definition of white-collar crime currently exists. Instead, the term is often discussed typologically where there is generally more widespread agreement as to its offense and offender characteristics. As with traditional forms of law violations, white-collar offenders are disproportionately male. However, with respect to other demographic comparisons, white-collar criminals are much more likely to occupy a middle- or upper-class background relative to conventional offenders. Also in contrast to conventional law violators, white-collar offenders tend to be middle-aged or older, have more formal education, are more likely to be married with more stable home lives, and have greater social networks including community groups and church affiliations.

Personally and professionally, the masks of legitimacy and respectability distinguish the white-collar offender from most conventional offenders. Through acquiring occupational positions of power, responsibility, influence, and trust, the white-collar offender opportunistically exploits the deficits or weaknesses—be it in his company, corporation, industry, or law—for (personal or organizational) financial and/or political gain.

Characteristics of white-collar offenses generally include deceit, concealment, and, as stated, violations of trust, responsibility, authority, and/or power within the course of one's occupation. Motivations for committing these offenses center on enhancing one's personal, organizational, or political power, influence, or financial ...