White Collar Crime in Contemporary Society

Corporate Violence

White Collar Crime

Corporations are considered fictional 'persons' under the law and they can, just like 'real' human persons, also perpetuate violence against individuals and against the community. An excellent example of this is environmental contamination. The consequences can be deadly, such as when individuals residing in a community contract cancer because of improper disposal of waste materials. Chemical corporations have a particularly notorious record in minimizing the harms from their products for self-interested reasons. Even when cancer is not directly caused by the violence, the quality of life (and property values) of nearby residents can be directly impacted by corporate indifference to human health. Air pollution, pollution from oil spills, and water pollution are all examples of such corporate violence (Friedrichs 2010: 66). Over time, the negative impact of such actions begins to affect a larger and larger community of individuals, as seen in the example of global warming due to excessive use of nonrenewable fossil fuels. The harms may not be intentional, but the corporate cover-up afterwards usually is intentional, as the corporation first ignores the risks in an effort to make a profit, and then, when it can no longer conceal what has occurred, engages in a campaign of lies and denial.

Another example of corporate violence is the generation of unsafe products that can cause great harm to unwitting users. "An enormous range of consumer products -- including many foods, drugs and medical devices, motor vehicles, household products, and cosmetics -- have been identified as hazardous to various degrees" (Friedrichs 2010: 68). For example, the pain reliever Vioxx was later shown to exacerbate the risk of heart disease for vulnerable populations. This was evident in the early studies of the drug, but researches minimized the link between the higher risks of heart disease in the experimental vs. control group. The drug thalidomide was later linked to serious birth defects (Friedrichs 2010: 70). In these examples, the pattern of abuse was slightly different -- the corporation had put so much time and effort into creating the product, it minimized the risk to bring it to the marketplace.

In other instances of unsafe products, the actions of the company may be even more craven. For example, when Ford created the Ford Pinto, the company actually calculated that it would be cheaper to settle lawsuits than to insert an inexpensive safety device that would prevent the car from catching fire when it was hit from behind. Ford feared that the increased cost, which would be passed on to consumers, would reduce the appeal of what was supposed to be an inexpensive car.

Discussion 2

Examples of corporate violence which consumers are put directly and unwittingly at risk are the most egregious examples of corporate violence, but it could also be argued that when corporations sell cigarettes and unhealthy fast food to the public in an attractive manner that they are facilitating the consumer doing violence to his or her body. Even if the risks are known by consumers, such products have addictive qualities, and once the consumer is 'hooked' it can be very difficult to get 'off' of the product.