Comparative Criminology and White-Collar Crime

Abstract

Despite the importance and centrality of comparative criminological research, there are still substantial methodological impediments to its development. This chapter discusses the general framework used in the current study and issues related to comparative criminology and white-collar crime research. It reviews relevant literatures on the case study method in comparative research, and on comparative analyses of white-collar and corporate crime. The current parallel study of China and the United States, which have the largest economies in the world, elaborates on the perspective put forth by Zimring and Johnson on the comparative study of corruption as a special subcategory of white-collar crime. The chapter concludes by reviewing both theories and patterns of white-collar and corporate crimes found in studies in the East and the West, including those relating to endemic and costly financial debacles in China and the United States. The dynamics of non-issue making are discussed to provide a more robust model for understanding white-collar and corporate crime in cross-national perspective, including overcoming problems in searching out best practices for prevention. Even considering its much larger size, China’s reported problem of corruption and white-collar crime appears far greater than that of other developed nations.