Am J Crim Just DOI 10.1007/s12103-014-9276-0
Sociodemographic Correlates of Knowledge About Elite Deviance Cedric Michel & Kathleen M. Heide & John K. Cochran
Received: 1 July 2014 / Accepted: 13 September 2014 # Southern Criminal Justice Association 2014
Abstract Elite deviance is a complex social phenomenon whose understanding requires a modicum of knowledge about various disciplines (e.g., financial economics, accounting, politics, environmental law, etc.). Consequently, public awareness of this type of offense is expected to correlate positively with one’s general level of education. It is uncertain what other sociodemographic characteristics may be associated with knowledge about crimes of the powerful. In the present study, 408 participants completed an online questionnaire that measured (1) their sociodemographic characteristics and (2) their knowledge about elite deviance. Significant variation was found among participants in their level of knowledge about elite deviance, acceptance of “truths” and adherence to “myths” with respect to gender, race/ethnicity, education, political ideology, religious affiliation, and source of information. More knowledgeable subjects were found to be those who identified as Whites, with higher education levels, without any religious affiliation, and who used the Internet as their main source of information. In comparison, less knowledgeable participants and “myth” adherers turned out to be predominantly male, politically more conservative, Republican, conservative Protestant, and who relied on traditional media sources rather than the Internet. These findings and their implications are discussed. Keywords Sociodemographic correlates . Knowledge . Elite deviance . White-collar crime C. Michel (*) Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Tampa, 401, W. Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33606-1490, USA e-mail:
[email protected] K. M. Heide : J. K. Cochran Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, SOC 107, Tampa, FL 33620-8100, USA K. M. Heide e-mail:
[email protected] J. K. Cochran e-mail:
[email protected]
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To date, empirical research on societal response to elite deviance1 has maintained its focus on public opinions (e.g., Huff, Desilets, & Kane, 2010; Holtfreter, Van Slyke, Bratton, & Gertz, 2008; Kane & Wall, 2006; Rebovich & Kane, 2002; Rebovich, Layne, Jiandani, & Hage, 2000; Schoepfer, Carmichael & Piquero, 2007; etc.). Although these studies have served to debunk the myth that Americans are apathetic about white-collar crime, they did not include a valid measure of lay knowledge about it. Consequently, little is known about the extent to which the public is familiar with the scope and magnitude of this social issue. The authors (under review) proposed to remedy this limitation by providing the first measure of public knowledge about elite deviance. Their findings provided convincing evidence that Americans might not be sufficiently informed about white-collar crime. On average, study participants failed a 10-item multiple choice and true or false questionnaire that tapped various dimensions of elite deviance (e.g., financial cost, physical harmfulness, relative legal immunity for white-collar offenders, etc.). Further, participants tended not to recognize the greater physical harmfulness of elite deviance compared to street crime, and that crimes that are common in underdeveloped nations (e.g., human trafficking) can also be committed in the United States by elite offenders with relative legal immunity. These findings suggest that the general public may harbor “myths” about elite deviance akin to those observed in the literature on public knowledge about street crime (e.g., crime being rampant, overly violent, etc., Doob & Roberts, 1983; Kappeler, Blumberg, & Potter, 1996; Maguire & Pastore, 1995; Roberts & Stalans, 1997; Wilbanks, 1987). It is not clear, however, which sociodemographic characteristics affect knowledge about elite deviance and how much variation exists among the general public.
Sociodemographic Variation in Attitudes about White-Collar Crime Research suggests significant variation in perceived seriousness of, and punitiveness against, white-collar crime among the public. More specifically, some studies have suggested that older people and people of lower socioeconomic status tend to view elite deviance as somewhat more serious than conventional violent crime and narcotic offenses (Grabosky, Braithwaite, & Wilson, 1987; Hauber, Toonvliet, & Willemse, 1988). Further, Blacks have been found to rate white-collar crimes directed at consumers (e.g., fraud, health threats and deception regarding the production and sale of goods and services, etc.) as somewhat more serious than do Whites, who seem more sensitive to white-collar crimes directed at businesses (e.g., forgery, embezzlement, etc., Miethe, 1984). Attitudes also seem to vary by occupation. For example, those subjects whose profession brings experience about white-collar crime (e.g., judge, prosecutor, etc.) do not seem to consider harsh penal sanctions an effective way to deal with whitecollar crime (Cole, 1983; Frank, Cullen, Travis, & Borntrager, 1989; Hartung, 1953; McCleary, O’Neil, Epperlein, Jones, & Gray, 1981). Simon (1999) coined the term “elite deviance” in reference to illegal and/or immoral acts committed by the three power elites (i.e., government, corporations, and the military) identified by Mills (1956). We are using this term interchangeably with “white-collar crime” to describe criminal or deviant behaviors performed by a small dominant group of individuals in control of a disproportionate amount of power.
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Findings are nonetheless more ambiguous in regard to gender. More specifically, in some studies men were more likely to support harsh punishment against white-collar offenders (Cullen, Clark, & Wozniak, 1985; Dodge, Bosick, & Van Antwerp, 2013; Keil & Vito, 1991), whereas in others women were found to be more punitive (Cohn, Barkan, & Halteman, 1991; Miller, Rossi, & Simpson, 1986; Rossi, Waite, Bose, & Berk, 1974). To further obfuscate the problem, other studies found no gender effect (Costello, Chiricos, Burianek, Gertz, & Maier-Katkin, 2002; Rebovich & Jiandani, 2000; Rebovich & Kane, 2002). Similarly, research on the effect of religiosity on attitudes about white-collar crime yielded equivocal results. Corcoran, Pettinicchio, and Robbins (2012) found religious beliefs to be negatively related to the tolerance of crimes of the powerful. However, in their study, religious social relationships and belonging to religious organizations were unrelated to the acceptability of whitecollar crime. In any case, it is not known whether such attitudes were dictated by extensive knowledge of the problem. Although they did not directly measure their respondents’ knowledge about whitecollar crime, Holtfreter and colleagues (2008) identified misconceptions about elite deviance that appeared to vary by certain sociodemographic characteristics. In their study, females and those who described themselves as moderate or conservative politically were more likely to perceive white-collar criminals as having an equal or greater chance of being caught and more harshly punished than street offenders. Extant research suggests that such belief is erroneous (Calavita, Tillman, & Pontell, 1997; Maddan, Hartley, Walker, & Miller, 2012; Tillman & Pontell, 1992). Conversely, those with incomes over $50,000 and college-educated respondents rightfully believed that the criminal justice system evinces greater leniency toward elite offenders. These results therefore suggest that public awareness of white-collar crime may vary demographically.
Hypotheses and Rationale for the Present Study Given the high financial and physical costs of elite deviance on society, and the seemingly low levels of knowledge about the problem, it is incumbent upon criminologists to better inform the public. Nevertheless, such a task requires knowing one’s target audience. Only by identifying those population groups with the greatest knowledge deficits can we find the most appropriate conduits to disseminate relevant information about white-collar crime. Elite deviance is a complex social phenomenon whose understanding requires some knowledge about several disciplines (e.g., financial economics, accounting, politics, environmental law, etc.). As suggested by Holtfreter and colleagues’ study (2008), public awareness of these crimes should therefore correlate positively with one’s general level of education. That is, individuals with higher degrees may have been exposed to relevant information about white-collar crime and possess better knowledge of it. Still, it is uncertain what other characteristics may be associated with knowledge about elite deviance, either positively or negatively. Does knowledge about white-collar crime vary by age, race, gender, profession, socioeconomic status, or other variables? The purpose of the present study is therefore to determine the sociodemographic correlates of knowledge about elite deviance. It is an extension of the authors’ aforementioned study (under review), the methodology of which is summarized in the following section.
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Method Sample Selection The participants in this study were recruited on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing Internet marketplace that coordinates the supply and demand of human intelligence tasks (HIT). More precisely, requesters advertise HITs that can be completed on a computer (e.g., a survey), and workers volunteer to complete them based on monetary compensation and time allotted for completion. This source of data collection has recently become popular in the field of psychology (e.g., Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling, 2011; Horton, Rand, & Zeckhauser, 2011; Paolacci, Chandler, & Ipeirotis, 2010), but also in criminology (Bastian, Denson, & Haslam, 2013; Filone, Strohmaier, Murphy, & DeMatteo, 2014; Garg, Camp, & Kanich, 2013; Graves, Acquisti, & Anderson, 2014; Martire, Kemp, Watkins, Sayle, & Newell, 2013; Mathieu, Hare, Jones, Babiak, & Neumann, 2013; Nadler & McDonnell, 2011) due to its convenience (workers can complete HITs from their own home whenever they want) and low cost ($2.00 per completed survey in the present study). Further, research suggests that this new methodology yields reliable results. Paolacci and colleagues (2010) compared the results of social science experiments among subjects recruited on Mechanical Turk, online discussion boards, and at a large university and found those to be qualitatively identical. In addition, in their study, subjects recruited on Mechanical Turk were more likely to complete the survey than participants in online discussion forums (91.6 % vs. 66.7 %, respectively), χ2 (1,268)= 20.915, p) = “Not informed”. Answer confidence was also measured to create “truth” acceptance and “myth” adherence scales. More specifically, white-collar “truth” variables were created every time subjects picked the correct answer to a knowledge item while feeling “confident” or “very confident” about it. Similarly, white-collar “myth” variables were created whenever subjects felt either “confident” or “very confident” about their answer to a knowledge item even though they answered that item incorrectly.
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Results As depicted in Table 3, which presents descriptive statistics for knowledge about elite deviance, “truth” acceptance, and “myth” adherence, the ten knowledge questions employed different types of scale. The first question had three modal categories. Questions 2, 3, and 4 employed a Likert scale with five possible responses. Question 6 also used a Likert scale but with three answer options. Lastly, items 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 were true or false questions. Overall, respondents did not evince high levels of confidence about their answers, even when they were correct. Still, participants were more inclined to hold as truths those items that tapped the meaning of the term “white-collar crime” (M=.67), human rights violation abroad (M=.60), toxic dumping (M=.31), and the reluctance of some companies to invest in green energy (M=.74). Conversely, a number of participants seemed to adhere to specific myths, including street crime being more physically harmful than white-collar crime (M=.63), the equal treatment of white-collar and street offenders by the criminal justice system (M=.25), and human trafficking not being much of a problem in developed nations (M=32). Again, the purpose of this study is to identify these people. Table 4 presents the results of one-way between subjects ANOVAs in the effect of sociodemographic predictors of knowledge about white-collar crime, “truth” acceptance, and “myth” adherence. F-tests and effect sizes (eta squared) are reported. Analysis of variance showed significant differences in knowledge about elite deviance in regard to the region where subjects grew up [F (4, 403)=2.44, p
