Crimes Of The Powerful: White-Collar, Corporate And State Crime
This module provides a comparative and transnational analysis of the historical development and recent growth of white-collar, corporate, and state crime. In the past these crimes have been addressed within the conceptual context of white collar crime, but it is increasingly recognised that the globalisation of criminal activities presents unique and unfamiliar problems. Corporate and financial crimes are now almost by definition transnational by virtue, not only of the growth of transnational legal and illegal business, but also because of the globalisation of financial markets via the internet. This module will, therefore, look at the main social actors, processes and interactions by which white-collar, corporate, and state crimes are perpetrated, the ways in which they are criminalised, the business ideologies that deny their criminality, the links between the 'underworld' and the 'overworld' of business, and the means by which corporate crimes are addressed within national and international law. A key aim of the module is to examine a number of relevant in-depth case studies concerning different aspects and levels of white-collar, corporate, and state crime such as environmental pollution, financial misappropriation, money laundering, tax evasion, health and safety violations, industrial espionage, consumer fraud, and food adulteration and poisoning. Accompanying this will be a critical analysis of the recent response of national and international agencies to the growth of white-collar, corporate, and state crime, as well as the effectiveness at the global level of attempts to regulate and prosecute it. In particular, the role of international agencies, national governments, and financial regulatory agencies will be examined together with the problems of bringing corporate actors to justice and punishing them in a meaningful and effective way. The context for this discussion will be the deregulation of the global economy as a result of neoliberalism and the 'casino economy' that this has encouraged in international business dealings; the globalisation of national economies and the formation of transnational corporations; the growth of the financial services sector and the increasing volume of online transactions; the growing links between terrorist organisations and illegal arms dealers and transnational banks such as BCCI; and the growing need for transnational criminal organisations to 'launder' money through the legal financial system.In preparation for the dissertation the module will focus on analysing the available national and international data regarding corporate, financial and cyber-crime; the problems and issues raised by a case study approach to social research; and the problems of interpreting journalistic and governmental sources in a context marked by fraud and unreliable data.
Module code: SOCY70526