“Scholarly influence” and white-collar crime scholarship

Abstract

This article explores many of the factors that play a role in the relative lack of scholarly influence of criminology and criminal justice professionals who focus on studying white-collar and corporate crime. The latest studies of "scholarly influence" in criminology and criminal justice journals and textbooks based on citation analyses confirm the absence of scholars who study white-collar and corporate crime. The sparse inclusion of white-collar and corporate crime topics in criminology and criminal justice curriculum in academic programs also indicate that the area is considered by many as a subfield rather than a mainstream component of academic criminology. Whether or not this status will change remains to be seen, but, on a positive note, there are a few encouraging signs that scholarly influence in the field will include more white-collar criminologists in the future.

The Invisible Scholar: Authors of Legal Scholarship in Criminology and Criminal Justice Journals

“…Thus, the marginalization of legal scholarship in CCJ journals makes CCJ legal scholars largely invisible, 1 as they tend not to appear in lists of either most productive or most influential CCJ scholars due to the scarce appearance of legal scholarship in CCJ journals, which naturally results in CCJ legal scholars' works being excluded from recognition or citation. A similar problem has been noted with regard to white collar crime scholars not showing up in studies identifying the most cited CCJ scholars due to their specialization in a marginalized subdiscipline (Shichor, 2009). Cohn and Farrington (2012) acknowledged that ranking studies may overlook scholars whose focus is a specialized subdiscipline due to sampling issues, such as restricting the sample to mainstream journals where scholarship in the specialized subdiscipline may not be well represented.…”

Can the Subaltern Speak in Criminology? Analysing the Production of Knowledge on Crimes of the Powerful in the 21st Century through Latin American Postcolonial Lenses

“…Concerns over the limited scope and knowledge on white-collar, corporate and 'powerful' actors' crimes compared to crimes of the powerless have been stated and evidenced by several scholars (Barak 2015;Lynch et al 2004;McGurrin et al 2013;Shichor 2009;Snider 2003;Tombs and Whyte 2003a). However, none of these authors has questioned the marginalisation of the research of Crimes of the powerful beyond English-speaking and Euro-American countries.…”

“…These articles accounted for only 3.6% of more than a thousand analysed studies, with a measured 'information ratio' of 1:10 when compared to ordinary street crimes. In addition, Shichor (2009) analyses how the 'citation analysis' methods of Cohn and Farrington (1994) confirm the sparse inclusion of white-collar and corporate crime studies in criminology, being considered more as a subfield of the discipline rather than a mainstream subject.…”

“…Although these authors show an increasingly rich focus on Crimes of the powerful research, several scholars have expressed their concern about the lack of studies and knowledge that exist among criminologists regarding these crimes compared to mainstream street crimes (Barak 2015;Lynch, McGurrin and Fenwick 2004;McGurrin, Jarrell, Jahn and Cochrane 2013;Shichor 2009;Snider 2003;Tombs and Whyte 2003b;Whyte 2008). In this respect, some studies aimed to evidence this inequality of power-knowledge within criminological research.…”

Introduction

“…Celui-ci n'est paru dans sa version intégrale que 35 ans plus tard, c'est-à-dire en 1983. Ce champ de recherche reste aujourd'hui encore relativement peu investigué en comparaison d'autres thématiques plus prisées par la criminologie et la sociologie de la déviance (Lynch, McGurrin, Fenwick, 2004 ;Shichor, 2009), telles que la délinquance juvénile, les drogues, plus récemment les délinquances sexuelles, le terrorisme, les victimes… C'est donc un objet de recherche « rare » qui témoignerait du peu d'intérêt politique, médiatique, social et judiciaire voué à la criminalité économique et financière au sens large. Quel que soit le champ envisagé, ce type de comportements transgressifs ne semble pas s'ancrer durablement dans les consciences sociales.…”