Elite Deviance

by Simon,David

• ISBN13: 9780205216284
• ISBN10: 0205216285
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-12-09
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

For courses in deviance and corporate crime. Elite Devianceincludes both criminal and non-criminal elite acts that cause great harm. Unique in its scope, Elite Deviancecovers not only corporate crime and political corruption in historical and contemporary contexts, but also the relationship between the two. Numerous current examples and case studies grab students' interest and reinforce all major theoretical points in the book. Note:MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit:www.mysearchlab.comor you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab with Pearson eText (at no additional cost). ValuePack ISBN-10: 020586371X / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205863716

Author Biography

David R. Simon earned a PhD in sociology from Rutgers University in 1975, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley's Alcohol Research Group in 1983-1984.

Dr. Simon is the author of Elite Deviance (Tenth Edition 2012) and eight other books. He has also published over 50 scholarly articles, book chapters, and review essays. He has written over a dozen pieces in popular magazines and newspapers. He is currently retired and continues to write books and articles.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
The Nature of Elite Deviance	p. 1
Scandal-Plagued America	p. 1
The Bailout Rackets	p. 3
Scandals Within the Economic Sphere	p. 6
A Theory of Elite Deviance	p. 9
The U.S. Social Structure: The Power Elite	p. 10
Economy-State Linkages and the Functions of Government	p. 20
Benefits That Elites Seek from the State	p. 28
The Higher Immorality and Links Between
Various Kinds of Crime	p. 30
The Classification of Elite Deviance	p. 33
Acts of Economic Domination	p. 36
Crimes of Government and Governmental Control	p. 36
Elite Deviance as a Denial of Basic Human Rights	p. 37
Conditions Leading to Elite Deviance	p. 37
Consequences of Elite Deviance	p. 38
Conclusion	p. 39
Critical Thinking Exercise 1.1	p. 40
Endnotes	p. 40
Elite Deviance and the Higher Immorality	p. 45
The Nature of the Higher Immorality	p. 45
Case Study: Inequality of Wealth, Income, and Power in America	p. 46
The Wealth Distribution	p. 47
The Relationship Between Wealth and Power	p. 48
Income and Power	p. 49
The Higher Immorality and the Political Economy	p. 53
Corporate Compensation: Salaries, Taxes, and Perks	p. 53
Welfare for the Well-Off: Tax Breaks	p. 56
The Asset-Depletion Range	p. 57
Taxes and Multinational Corporations	p. 58
Misappropriated Charity: Foundations	p. 58
The Creation of Crisis	p. 60
Antitrust Laws	p. 62
The Higher Immorality and Corporate Crime	p. 63
Penalties: The Double Standard	p. 65
Public Awareness	p. 66
Organized Crime and the Business Elite	p. 67
Organized Crime and Repression	p. 67
Organized Crime and Profits	p. 70
Organized Crime and the Political Elite	p. 74
The Vatican Bank Scandal	p. 78
Conclusion	p. 81
Critical Thinking Exercise 2.1	p. 83
Endnotes	p. 83
Corporate Deviance: Monopoly, Manipulation, and Fraud	p. 87
Costs of Corporate Crime	p. 87
Penalties for Corporate Crime	p. 87
Monopolies	p. 89
The Corporate Frankenstein	p. 91
Price-Fixing	p. 94
Case Study: The Electrical Conspiracy	p. 97
Price Gouging	p. 99
Taking Advantage of the Disadvantaged	p. 99
Taking Advantage of Unusual Events	p. 100
Making Extraordinary Profits Through Deception	p. 101
Deceptive Advertising	p. 104
Fraud	p. 109
Case Study: The Madoff Scandal	p. 112
Conclusion	p. 116
Critical Thinking Exercise 3.1	p. 117
Endnotes	p. 118
Corporate Deviance: Human Jeopardy	p. 122
Individual Jeopardy	p. 122
Unsafe Products	p. 122
Food Pollution	p. 127
The Tobacco Industry	p. 135
Dangerous Working Conditions	p. 140
Collective Jeopardy	p. 148
Wasting Resources	p. 150
Polluting the Environment	p. 153
Conclusion	p. 159
Critical Thinking Exercise 4.1	p. 160
Endnotes	p. 160
National Defense, Multinational Corporations, and Human Rights	p. 165
The Military-Industrial Complex	p. 173
The Defense Establishment and Its Origins	p. 173
Consequences of Defense Policies	p. 179
The New Global Economy	p. 181
Deviance and Multinational Corporations	p. 182
Government Policy	p. 185
Dumping Toxic Waste	p. 186
Human Rights, Multinationals, and U.S. Foreign Policy	p. 187
Iran	p. 191
Latin America	p. 192
Chile	p. 195
Assessing U.S. Support	p. 196
Conclusion	p. 198
Critical Thinking Exercise 5.1	p. 198
Endnotes	p. 199
Political Corruption: Continuity and Change	p. 203
Money and Politics	p. 207
Purchasing Goods and Services	p. 208
Public Funds	p. 209
Public Property	p. 210
Regulation of Commercial Activities	p. 211
Zoning and Land Use	p. 212
The Legislative Process	p. 212
Election Fraud	p. 215
Unfair Campaign Conduct	p. 216
Scandal-Plagued America: The Bush Years as Metaphor	p. 217
Continuing Corruption	p. 219
Conclusion	p. 222
Critical Thinking Exercise 6.1	p. 222
Endnotes	p. 223
Political Deviance	p. 225
The Corrupting Environment of Politics	p. 231
Domestic Political Deviance	p. 234
Secrecy, Lying, and Deception	p. 234
Abuse of Power by Government Agencies	p. 240
Political Prisoners	p. 244
Official Violence	p. 247
International Crimes	p. 253
U.S. Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of Other Nations	p. 253
War Crimes	p. 255
Conclusion	p. 257
Critical Thinking Exercise 7.1	p. 258
Endnotes	p. 259
Understanding Elite Deviance	p. 264
Why Elite Deviance?	p. 264
Elite Deviance and the Sociological Imagination: A Paradigm for Analysis	p. 265
Elite Deviance and American Values: The American Dream	p. 266
Social Structure: The Dominance of Elite Institutions	p. 268
Characteristics of Bureaucratic Structures	p. 271
Centralization of Authority	p. 272
Specialized Vocabularies and deologies	p. 273
Fragmentation and Routinization	p. 275
Image Construction and Inauthenticity	p. 276
Front Activities	p. 276
Elite Deviance and "Individual" Characteristics	p. 277
Organizational Conditions and the Production of Deviant Personalities	p. 279
Links Between Elite Deviance and Nonelite Deviance	p. 282
Tangible Links	p. 282
Symbolic Links	p. 283
Elite Deviance and Victimization	p. 284
Constructionist and Objectivist Positions on Elite Deviance	p. 288
Conclusion	p. 290
Critical Thinking Exercise 8.1	p. 292
Endnotes	p. 293
The Scandalization of America	p. 297
The Higher Immorality in an Era of Greed	p. 297
Watergate	p. 301
Iran-Contra	p. 303
Early Involvement with Iran	p. 304
Diverting Funds to the Contras	p. 305
The Scandal: Contragate	p. 306
The Nugan-Hand Bank Affair	p. 306
The Iran-Contra Conspiracy: "Operation Polecat"	p. 306
Connections and Conspiracies	p. 307
Contragate and the Changing Nature of American Power and Corruption	p. 308
Characteristics of Contemporary Scandal	p. 310
The Study of Elite Deviance	p. 314
Conclusion	p. 317
Critical Thinking Exercise 9.1	p. 318
Endnotes	p. 319
Epilogue: Economic Democracy	p. 322
A Proposal to Transform Society	p. 322
The Real Secret Government	p. 323
America's Main Drift	p. 323
The Local Community and Social Change	p. 325
Foreign Policy and Population Crisis	p. 329
Why Change Must Come	p. 330
Coda	p. 332
Endnotes	p. 333
Sources	p. 333
Publications	p. 333
Books	p. 334
Organizations	p. 334
Author Index	p. 337
Subject Index	p. 341
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.