Race, Gender, and Class in Criminology by Dragan Milovanovic Martin D. Schwartz

Author:Dragan Milovanovic, Martin D. Schwartz [Dragan Milovanovic, Martin D. Schwartz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138125247
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2015-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

Racial Minorities as Victims of White Collar Crime

Given the diffuse and often latent character of much white collar crime it is especially difficult to measure victimization. To the extent that blacks are overrepresented among the socially and economically disadvantaged they are also likely to be overrepresented among victims of certain forms of white collar crime which disproportionately affect the vulnerable. They are more likely, in this reading, to consume lower quality, unsafe products; they are more likely to have jobs characterized by unsafe working conditions; they are more likely to live in neighborhoods prone to environmental hazards. In a landmark study in the 1960s it was demonstrated that "the poor pay more," and to the extent that blacks are disproportionately concentrated in lower class neighborhoods they are victims of retailers (Caplowitz, 1963). In this context it is the interconnection between class and race which is crucial. Race alone becomes a significant factor when racism is operating in addition to structural class bias, although of course it is not especially easy to separate out these effects.

In some cases the claim is made that minority group members are being specifically targeted for a form of victimization at the hands of corporations. In 1990, Reverend Calvin O. Butts and some of his followers began white-washing billboards featuring tobacco and liquor advertisements directed at residents of Harlem (Strom, 1990). According to Reverend Butts, "The prevalence of alcohol and cigarette advertisements in Soweto and America's inner cities manifests the elastic ruthlessness of companies' greed and proclivity to exploit the poor and disenfranchised people." Technically, Reverend Butts could be considered to be engaged in a criminal misdemeanor of vandalism. Conversely, he might be regarded as waging battle against willful exploitation of vulnerable people by private, profit-oriented corporations. At the same time the R. J. Reynolds Company developed a cigarette brand, Uptown, directed at inner-city blacks (Quinn, 1990). This also met with some protest, and led to a halt to the test-marketing of the brand. There is some evidence that a significantly higher percentage (39%) of black males smoke, compared with 30.5% of white males, and that blacks suffer a lung-cancer rate 58% higher than that of whites (Quinn, 1990). Obviously a dissenting view may hold that the sale and promotion of a perfectly legal product (however harmful its effects) cannot meaningfully be characterized as a form of white collar crime, and further that it is patronizing to suggest that lower class blacks are unable to make informed, discriminating choices about their practices. Whether this is crime disproportionately directed at racial minorities, or something else, is very much a matter of interpretation.

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