TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose To explore the moral position of Baumol’s theory of productive, unproductive and destructive entrepreneurship; Ross’s (1907) concept of the ‘criminaloid’ and Sutherland’s (1949a, 1949b) theories of white-collar crime, as applied to ‘popular illegalities’ (Lea, 2003) and the activities of entrepreneurs who operate primarily as small/medium enterprise (SME); artisans; and tradespeople as they interact with an emerging affluent working class.Methodology/approach Provides a framework of key texts that explore the concepts of morality, legality and ethics when applied to the theoretically unexplored concept of criminal entrepreneurism, as a function of working class survival and capital accumulation. Research for this chapter included the analysis of government reports into the illicit activities of ‘professional’ and ‘non-professional’ bodies; personal observation of street corner shops.Findings Provides a critical analysis of theories that advocate rule avoidance and evasion as an acceptable process of developing successful entrepreneurs and the controversial theories of white-collar crime that focus on ‘high status’ actors operating at the corporate level. It identifies a necessary relationship and complicity between clients (victims) and practitioners as key elements in the commission of deviant acts, as victims expand their social, economic and cultural capital.Originality/value By combining philosophies of entrepreneurism, theories of white, blue and collarless crime and a reconsideration of moral business principles, this chapter introduces a new construct of deviancy as a ‘positive’ outcome that reject the need for criminal justice agencies intervention.
VL  - 5
SN  - 978-1-78441-551-8, 978-1-78441-552-5/2040-7246
DO  - 10.1108/S2040-724620150000005011
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-724620150000005011
AU  - Fletcher Robin
PY  - 2015
Y1  - 2015/01/01
TI  - White-Collar, Blue-Collar and Collarless Crime: The Complicity of Victims in ‘Victimless Crime’
T2  - Exploring Criminal and Illegal Enterprise: New Perspectives on Research, Policy & Practice
T3  - Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 75
EP  - 95
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -