Social organization as a correctional ideology: Breaking new ground

This paper examines the importance of the prison environment and its social organization as factors which reinforce the continued socialization of criminal careers. The authors analyze contemporary research findings within the context of prison administration and conclude that if behavioral change is to become a realistic by-product of incarceration, then we may need to reformulate the correctional ideology upon which penal policies rest. A social organization framework; consistant with empirical data, is then provided as the basis for an ideology leading to new generation prisons.     

White-collar crime and the justice department: The institutionalization of a concept

The sudden and unexpected incorporation of white-collar crime as a top investigative priority of the U.S. Justice Department of the 1970s is the focus of this inquiry. This pursuit of white-collar crime is especially problematic for instrumentalist and structuralist variants of conflict theory, which generally view the origins of law in terms of the interests of a ruling or capitalist class. This apparent contradiction between official concern for white-collar crime and instrumentalist and structuralist theories of law creation is examined in the context of the discovery of white-collar crime by the Justice Department. It is noted that in the process of operationalizing white-collar crime, the Justice Department transformed the traditional (Sutherland) definition of white-collar crime so that targeted offenders are not limited to the economic and political elite, but instead are drawn from all social classes. This modification of the definition has far-reaching implications for assessing the nature of the Justice Department's response to the problem of elite crime and provides insight into the ongoing theoretical debate on the origins of law.     

Empowerment for development: Taking participatory appraisal further in rural South Africa

This paper examines the potential for Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques to contribute to community development and empowerment in a deprived rural community in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. A series of participatory workshops was undertaken in which various new techniques were used to identify people-environment relationships and, in particular, the community perception of the value and problems relating to the river and riparian zone. The workshops led to the community taking positive action to address the problems identified. The study indicates the value and role of participatory research among disempowered communities in rural Africa.     

Socially constructing an image in the automobile industry

Due to its large-scale, often unrecognized effects, corporate deviance in America is a societal concern that demands further attention. The present research provides deeper insight into the area, with the hope of furthering our knowledge and ultimately reducing the problem. Among the measurements presented are: 1) the corporate image socially constructed by General Motors (GM); 2) the “safety” of GM vehicles; and 3) GM's constructed safety-related image compared against its actual performance. GM's image was measured through a content analysis of Newsweek and Motor Trend magazines, while GM's safety-related performance was measured using various vehicle crash test data. Through advertising and marketing strategies, the auto industry has approached the general public with an alleged commitment to automotive safety. The present research tested those commitments, and although determinations of guilt are beyond the scope of the present research (for reasons discussed in the text), several conclusions regarding involvement in corporate deviance are provided. Those conclusions are discussed in the context of how they relate to crime and the societal implications they present. Suggestions for future research are presented. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Issue management: process versus progress

• Of all the tools and techniques applied within the field of public affairs and corporate communication, Issue Management is undoubtedly the one which most often attracts excessive process at the expense of real progress. Understanding the causes and sources of this over‐emphasis on process is important to the long‐term success of issue management as an effective tool.
• That understanding is also important to the development of Issue Management models which promote an optimal balance between following a disciplined approach and formulating creative and original solutions.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The identification of sexual and violent motivations in men who assault women: implication for treatment

A qualitative analysis of interview data with 41 rapists determined that five implicit theories (ITs) underlie rapists' offense supportive beliefs/feelings/motives: (a) dangerous world (DW)-where men have feelings of generalized anger and/or resentment toward others; (b) women are dangerous-where men hold a set of attitudes that are hostile toward women; (c) women as sexual objects (WSO)-where women are seen as primarily sexual objects; (d) male sex drive is uncontrollable-where sexual urges are seen all consuming; (e) entitlement-where men feel that they can do exactly what they want. Consideration of whether DW or WSO ITs were present or absent indicated that three main groups could be identified: Group 1: violently motivated-presence of DW and/or absence of WSO; Group 2: sexually motivated-presence of WSO and/or absence of DW; Group 3: sadistically motivated-presence of DW and WSO. These results are discussed in terms of treatment needs of rapists.