White Collar' crime - Psycho-sociological perspective

• Author: George Popa - Carmen Neagu
• Position: Ph.D., University Lecturer, Community Police Section, 'Ovidius' University, Constanta, Romania - Candidate to Ph.D., Doctoral School of Sociology, University of Bucharest
• Pages: 130-134

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 1 (2013), pp. 130-134

130

“WHITE COLLAR” CRIME – PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGICAL

PERSPECTIVE

G. Popa, C. Neagu

George Popa

Ph.D., University Lecturer, Community Police Section

“Ovidius” University, Constana, Romania

*Correspondence: George Popa, 1 Aleea Universitii St., Constana, Romania

E-mail: popageorgedrd@yahoo.com

Carmen Neagu

Candidate to Ph.D., Doctoral School of Sociology,

University of Bucharest

*Correspondence: Carmen Neagu, 101-102 Mamaia Blvd., Constana, Romania

E-mail: carmenmariananeagu@yahoo.com

Abstract

Generally speaking, deviance and its specific genre, delinquency, are associated with

a lower social status, to the individuals which are under the poverty line. Expression as “he is

stealing because he has nothing to eat", "he took a piece of bread to feed his children", are

used to provide mitigating circumstances for behaviors contrary to social norms. But in

practice, not just those from disadvantaged social classes (lower class) commit criminal acts,

but also representatives of social groups which, socially speaking, are over the average. They

are part of the upper class. Then who are these criminals and why they are called "white

collar"? The answer to these questions will be the subject of this paper, with which we’ll try

to identify potential perpetrators of such crimes and to find out what characterizes and

distinguishes them from other types of criminals.

Keywords: “white-collar”, criminality, social structure, psychological traits, offence.

Introduction

Starting from the most succinct definition of the deviance – as “a difference negatively

perceived”

1

, we can expand the discourse on the subjects like the appearance of deviance, its

nature and the factors influencing the manifestation of this phenomenon.

Sociological point of view will be described, relying on the theories developed by

Durkheim and many other authors, analyzing the social status of deviance and placing it on

the normal- pathological axis.

The psychological perspective on deviance will be presented in parallel and compared

to the sociological one, trying to determine the point of intersection of the two sciences, in this

field of deviance. From the psychological point of view, the specific features of 'white collar'

deviants, will be analyzed in terms of behavior and attitudes.

In order to talk about deviance, as a specific difference, it is necessary to have an

object of comparison. What is this for the deviance? What we have in mind, when we claim

that someone “deviates”? Durkheim argues that “the object of any science of life, whether

1

M. Cousson, Raymond Boudon, (coord.), Tratat de sociologie, Hu manitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997.