White Collar Crime and the Occupy Movement Touched on at Sidore Lecture

On Mon., Mar. 12, Dr. Paul Leighton from Eastern Michigan University visited Plymouth State University to discuss social inequality at the Saul O'Sidore lecture. Dr. Leighton, a professor of criminology, talked about how many Americans view class and wealth, and how it relates to crime.

Based on a theory from John Braithwaite, another criminologist, Dr. Leighton argued that there is a link between economic power and crime, whether it be out of need, or out of greed, which would explain why the Occupy Movement is viewed with animosity, and how corporations gain personhood rights.

Dr. Leighton stated early in the lecture that, to understand the problem more clearly, we have to understand the difference between wealth and class. However, he said, we, as human beings, do not like to talk about class as a whole, as it identifies who we are through income, occupation, education and wealth. Wealth is just a factor that defines what social class we are in.

Leighton continued, explaining many of the different variables that can affect social inequality, such as the median income someone makes, or even their perception of how much a corporation makes. One example he used was how much wealth was being held by people in different income ranges in the United States. Many of the Americans polled thought that the top 20 percent controlled about 30 percent of the wealth. In reality, the top 20 percent controls 84 percent of the wealth. Meanwhile, the bottom 60 percent only owns 15 percent of the wealth. Leaving a margin of error or about 20 percent.

This means that in many ways, the very rich control almost everything, and it can cause social upheaval. Returning to Braithwaite's argument, Leighton explained that when people feel humiliated by those in a higher social class, they will either feel guilt and shame and continue on, or they will start to feel righteous rage, and will potentially resort to violence.

Leighton explained that the Occupy movement could be a byproduct of righteous rage, and could add a new factor to the discussion about inequality.

Leighton went on to explain a corporation's role in social inequality, his prominent example being General Electric. General Electric, while a corporation, is the world's 54th largest economy, beating out many countries, and making the audience realize that many corporations have a lot of power.

Those corporations also have a lot of influence, just based on their control of the media. CNBC is owned by General Electric, which has a banking and financial branch. He said, "you have a financial news network brought to you by a bank. Corporations control a lot of things that we are not aware of."

Leighton said that corporations have less of a conscience than we realize, and will continue to do what they can get away with.

Yet, if the people are willing to educate themselves to the system's flaws, they may be able to promote change, like the Occupy Movement has been willing to do.

This led to a question from an audience member who asked why there seems to be such animosity towards the Occupy movement as a whole. Leighton replied that the rich are far more able to hide their crimes, while many people view the occupiers as street criminals, and therefore are a threat to us. "We feel the need to kick the ladder out from behind us, to protect our place in the system."

While there was a lot of technical information to absorb during the lecture, Leighton used all of it to help the audience think differently about the world. Senior PSU student Adam Berthiume said that it made him think about things differently. "With corporations being considered people and their economic power, it makes you wonder exactly what they're capable of."