welcome to this cheor to you sociology topic video looking at social class and crime focusing on explanations of corporate crime corporate crime is an area of concern for sociologists as it's often underrepresented in official crime statistics and therefore causes a misrepresentation of workingclass criminality whilst it is not exclusively a crime committed by the ruling classes the severity of punishment and the impact of corporate crime makes it equally if not more devastating and other forms of crime in society yet very few people are prosecuted for the damage that it causes sociologists look to explain why corporate crime occurs through a number of different approaches that we'll look at in this video including the organizational cultures of Corporations the role of capitalism strain theory the punishment of corporate crimes the role of globalization and the delabeling of corporate crime firstly organizational cultures both two and Snider have suggested that the culture of corporate organizations leads to excessive competition in the workplace and that this creates the conditions for corporate crimes to be committed the competition for profits and the need to appease shareholders often leads to increased risk-taking behaviors by those in corporations which makes their decision making unethical placing profits over the welfare of their staff their customers the environment and those that live in it a further feature of organizational culture is those that are most likely to take risks are also those most likely to end up in positions of power and this can have an impact on the conduct of the business however it's often those at the top that are most removed from The Acts themselves delegating responsibility to others and also from the impact particularly as legislation is often created to defend them a second cause of corporate crime is the role of capitalism according to Marxist David Gordon the doggy dog nature of capitalism promotes behaviors that encourage corporations to employ illegitimate and illegal methods of maximizing profits this can take the form of false accounting or cutting costs or using substandard materials cheaper suppliers that fail to adhere to legislation to protect workers and the environment or to circumvent health and safety legislation and we can look at this particularly in the case of the greld tower fire in 2017 this need for profit drives corporations to cook Corners often with devastating consequences for employees their customers or the environment we can also apply strain theory to corporate crime particularly the Deviant adaptation of innovation in order to pursue more sales and maximize profits corporations may be encouraged to utilize illegitimate means of achieving their own version of the American dream the straint of to produce profits for shareholders yet ambiguity in deregulated markets about what corporations must do to protect their staff their customers and the environment can lead to corporations breaking the law whilst it must be said that some forms of innovation are legal they may be acting immorally or their success may have human or environmental impacts that are devastating a further explanation of why corporations commit crime is due to the reduced risk of getting caught or punished suitably for their actions with the growth of neoliberal Economics on the global stage and the deregulation of Industries corporate crime is increased this is due to there being less risk involved in breaking laws tombs and whites highlight that in the UK since the turn of the century there's been a decrease of over a third in the number of health and safety inspections allowing more companies to breach these regulations and put their own staff and customers at risk even when companies are caught the pun Ms are often Financial with few directors or chief Executives facing custodial sentences for their actions often the company is fined and usually this is a nominal amount in comparison to their turnover or to the profit generated by the act in the first place furthermore any finds the company has levied upon them can be offset by raising the cost of their product and so it's the consumer who pays for the corporation's crimes larger companies also have the financial muscle to Lobby governments to change the law and make their practices legal and this is particularly evident with the growth of globalization as the world has become more interconnected this has led to more opportunities for businesses to move to lower wage economies that have less legislation the movement of industries from the developed world with tight environmental regulations to the developing world where companies can use their financial power to influence governments has seen much corporate crime move from the West to the developing world World governments in the developing world are often less likely to oppose the actions of these Western companies particularly as governments look to attract transnational companies to their country to set up business knowing that the employment gained will lead to a boost in their popularity with their own people however often the movement of tnc's to other parts of the world causes environmental damage human exploitation and even health and safety catastrophes such as the collapse of the r Plaza garment Factory in Bangladesh where workers for Gap Matalan and other major retailers saw 1,100 workers killed when the factory collapsed in 2013 finally the delabeling of corporate crime in the event of being caught committing crimes corporations have access to public relations firms to help them escape the negative publicity of their actions Nestle one of the largest corporations on the planet has been involved in numerous scandals including the infamous baby milk scandal in the 1970s and 1980s and yet despite some low-level protests continues to be one of the largest transnational companies this is different from the labeling of individuals who commit crime an interactionist suggests that the process of labeling is more likely to lead to further crime however corporate criminals can escape this process of labeling through good PR and continue to trade successfully and this means that the sanctions faced for Crime are less likely to act as a deterrent and therefore companies will be more likely to take these risks that concludes this tor to you sociology topic video on social class and crime looking at the causes of corporate crime thanks for watching