NCJ Number
222057
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 48 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2008 Pages: 154-170
Date Published
March 2008
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper attempts to lay down the groundwork for the argument that any analysis of economic crime must proceed from a better and more complete understanding of the function and characteristics of money than what is currently the case.
Abstract
Theoretical approaches to the question of money argue that money: (1) promotes instrumental attitudes that reduce moral issues to technical questions; (2) gives rise to a sense of self-sufficiency; and (3) reduces the risk of being caught and facilitates illegal exchanges and payments. Money is a conspicuous feature of modern society that plays a key role in almost all economic crime. However, it is very seldom that money’s exact significance in the causation of economic crime has been the subject of study. While in economic sociology, there is a broad body of theoretical work already done on the subject, this research on the characteristics and functions of money and its central position in society, has neither concerned itself with criminality nor been drawn upon in the study of economic crime. This paper considers how money can motivate crime, influence the opportunity structure governing its occurrence, and serve as a practical instrument facilitating it. Existing theories are engaged based on their assumptions of money. Money is introduced as a maneuver by which to evade entanglement in emotionally straining and risky social relations in which openness can negatively affect status and life project. References