Social Class and Crime

Official crime statistics consistently show that the working class — and particularly the poorest sections of society — are disproportionately represented among those arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for criminal offences. However, this raises a fundamental sociological question: does the working class actually commit more crime, or is the apparent class pattern a product of selective policing, prosecution, and the social construction of crime statistics?

Key Definition: White-collar crime is crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation, as defined by Edwin Sutherland (1949). It includes fraud, embezzlement, insider trading, and tax evasion.

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Working-Class Crime: Theoretical Explanations

Several theories attempt to explain why working-class crime rates appear to be higher.

Strain Theory (Merton)

As discussed in Lesson 1, Merton (1938) argued that working-class crime results from the strain between culturally defined goals (material success) and the limited legitimate opportunities available to the working class. Unable to achieve the American Dream through education and employment, some turn to "innovation" — achieving material success through illegal means.

Subcultural Theories

Cohen (1955), Cloward and Ohlin (1960), and Miller (1962) all offer explanations for working-class crime rooted in the formation of deviant subcultures (see Lesson 2). Whether through status frustration, differential access to illegitimate opportunities, or distinctive lower-class focal concerns, these theories locate the causes of crime in the structural position and cultural experiences of the working class.

Marxist Explanations

Marxists argue that working-class crime is an inevitable product of criminogenic capitalism (see Lesson 4). Poverty, exploitation, and alienation drive the working class to crime, while the selective enforcement of the law ensures that working-class crime is disproportionately detected and punished.

Left Realist Explanations

Lea and Young (1984) argue that working-class crime is real and is explained by the interaction of relative deprivation, marginalisation, and subculture (see Lesson 5). The working class experience the greatest gap between their aspirations and their reality, generating the frustration and resentment that can motivate criminal behaviour.

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White-Collar Crime

Edwin Sutherland (1949)

Edwin Sutherland coined the term "white-collar crime" in 1949, defining it as crime committed by persons of high social status in the course of their occupation. Sutherland argued that criminology had been biased toward studying the crimes of the poor while ignoring the equally (or more) harmful crimes of the wealthy.

Sutherland identified several reasons why white-collar crime is under-detected and under-punished:

Reason	Explanation
Complexity	White-collar crimes (fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion) are complex and difficult to detect. They often require specialist knowledge to investigate.
Diffuse victimisation	The victims of white-collar crime are often unaware they have been victimised. Overcharging by a utility company or price-fixing by a cartel affects millions of people by small amounts, making it difficult to identify as crime.
Power	White-collar criminals have the resources to hire expensive lawyers, influence regulatory bodies, and lobby for favourable legislation.
Lenient treatment	When detected, white-collar crime is often dealt with by regulatory bodies rather than the criminal justice system. Offenders receive fines rather than imprisonment.

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Corporate Crime

Corporate crime extends beyond individual white-collar crime to encompass illegal acts committed by companies or their employees on behalf of the company.

Tombs and Whyte (2015)

Steve Tombs and David Whyte have been at the forefront of research into corporate crime. They argue that:

• Corporate crime is far more harmful than street crime in terms of financial cost, physical harm, and loss of life.
• Corporate crime is systematic — it is built into the structure of capitalist enterprise, driven by the relentless pursuit of profit.
• Corporate crime is under-regulated and under-punished. Regulatory agencies are underfunded, and penalties are too small to act as effective deterrents.

Hazel Croall (2001)

Croall identified several categories of corporate crime:

Type	Examples
Financial crimes	Fraud, tax evasion, insider trading, price-fixing, pension fund theft
Crimes against consumers	Selling unsafe products, false advertising, food adulteration
Crimes against employees	Health and safety violations, wage theft, illegal working conditions
Environmental crimes	Illegal pollution, dumping toxic waste, violating environmental regulations
Crimes against the state	Tax evasion, corruption of public officials, illegal political donations

Examples of Corporate Crime