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Summary Organized Crime - Literature Week 5,6,7,8 - Quiz 2
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Literature summarized for the second quiz of Organized Crime
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Quiz 2 – 19 March 2019Session 5
Van de Bunt, H., Siegel, D., & Zaitch, D. (2014). The social embeddedness
of organized crime. In Paoli, L. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of organized
crime (pp. 321-339). New York: Oxford University Press.
– Embeddedness of OC regarding gender relations, ethnic minorities and occupations
– Many years ago, social embeddedness originated in economics
o Polanyi economic behaviour cannot be explained without taking into account the
social and cultural framework
o Granovetter emphasizes on social and cultural framework growing attention in
social sciences of social context and social relations
o Bourdieu insight in economic sociology makes OC understandable
– Two main types of social embeddedness
o Structural: refers to the existing relations and structures are not only the
breeding ground for criminal activities but also determine the form of these
activities can take
Micro level: local bar
Meso-/macro level: places like airports, seaports or branches of industry
such as transport, prostitution, catering.
o Relation: refers to the concrete social relations and contacts between individuals
in a certain context or network
Existing relations
Partners in crime, occupations, social communities, gender relations and
public administration
Criminal cooperations does not exist in a social vacuum, criminal
activities cannot be separated from the social relations between the
participants and the institutional environments.
Criminal cooperation is usually embedded in existing friendly,
familiar or work-related relationships.
Trust is important characterized by strong internal
relationships
The existence of social ties between criminals and persons who do
not participate in criminal cooperatives but belong to the same
ethnic group, neighborhood, occupation
– In failed states (countries where effective political structure is lacking) OC is embedded
in society ways that differ from other countries where the power of the state is effective
and experienced as legitimate.
o Members of criminal groups take advantage of the absence of formal state
power by focusing on duties neglected by the states (= protection theory)
– Three different types of social embeddedness
o 1. Embeddedness & gender
, Reflects general gender role in society: growing involvement of women
as a result of emancipation of women in society in general and
criminal groups
Gender relationships can create a fertile ground for OC
Supporters: subordinate to leader, under threat or voluntarily
Partners in crime: romantic relationship (boyfriends, spouses,
business partners) as a basis and cooperate on basis of equality
performing certain tasks and activities
Madams: in charge of coordinating criminal activities
Example: Nigerian and Ghanaian female traffickers (sex
industry): they set up contacts, plan operations and use every
opportunity to make money, recruit African girls, working as
prostitutes themselves.
Forge relationships with local actors in the sex industry such
as pimps, brothel owners, other Nigerian madams, local drivers
and bodyguards. They take advantage of existing sex industry.
Relational embeddedness of OC manifested in intermediary role women
sometimes play by building connections to the legitimate world on
behalf of their criminal spouses
o 2. Embeddedness & occupation
Work relations & settings serve as an opportunity/ basis for OC
Various ways, because each occupation provides different
opportunities to commit and conceal activities
Nodes: Social contact established during career
Paths: Gained valuable knowledge for OC in work related social
network, e.g. how to follow established procedures and where to
find the right people to achieve certain goals
Edges: logical consequence from the others gray areas that offer
opportunities to commit crimes
Usually involves activities insufficiently supervised by others.
Occupation as a strategic element vs. practical element
- Infiltrate and weaken institutions from within and establish
dominion over businesses or government agencies
o 3. Embeddedness & ethnicity
Research shows that criminal activities of these ethnic minorities do
not take place in a social vacuum or in a parallel, underground,
secretive, or external reality
Ethnic minorities maintain, establish, cultivate or negotiate material &
symbolic ties
A. Communities with their own (national ethnic language)
communities both locally and overseas;
Strength of ethnic minorities they are able to mobilize
internal resources and relations, both material and symbolic,
, that grant them a comparative advantage to successfully
conduct their (illegal) transactions.
The use of kinship, family and locality ties more than
ethnicity per se.
The symbiotic and parasitical use of own “ethnic” businesses is
widespread and includes in many countries the use of
restaurants, bars, discotheques, telephone and internet
businesses, informal money transfer offices (underground
banking), travel agencies, export-import companies, etc.
Another important source of social embeddedness of illegal
transactions by ethnic minorities belongs to the realm of
geopolitics migrants who come from productions in transit
areas.
B. Local actors, structures and arrangements local
mainstream “native” actors or groups
Ethnic minorities establish parasitic and symbolic relations with
local actors and structures (legal/illegal) from mainstream
society.
OC has better changes to succeed in context where it is able to
use economic infrastructure, receive social acceptance enjoy
some kind of political protection, profit from local
technological resources (mainly communication), and/or
culturally adapt to the demands of local context.
Federico Varese “the response of the local population (both
criminal and law-abiding) to the newly arrived mafia is key to
the success, or otherwise, of transplantation”
Through the use of and development of particular technological
resources immigrant group establishes a strong link with the
environment
Also, symbolic and cultural performance of immigrant groups is
a form of embeddedness.
C. (Foreign) groups or networks with other immigrant groups
(locally and abroad)
Immigrants engaged in cross broader crime rely on their
own ethnic, national or language group to facilitate illegal
business and also establish weaker but very fruitful lies with
other illegal entrepreneurs either from abroad or belonging
to other minorities.
OC is strongly interethnic and intraethnic
The competitive advantage of some groups lies in their
network of international contacts and their capacity to
mobilize them.
“Brokerage” is an essential feature of OC.
Ethnic minorities also rely on other local foreign groups as
business partners/brokers as (international) service providers,
, facilitators and customers among foods and services provided
and sold by legal and illegal foreign entrepreneurs
Conclusion
social embeddedness refers to the intertwinement of OC with the social
environment
these environments provide fertile grounds of crime groups to commit and
conceal crimes
The social environment determines the form and nature of organized crime and vice
versa, which are constantly changing
Central definition of Seigel:
Who-notion, ethni & gender
What-notion:
Sergi, A. & South, N. (2016). ‘Earth, Water, Air and Fire’:Environmental
crimes. Chapter 6 Mafia Power and Political Negligence in Calabria. In
Illegal Entrepreneurship, Organized Crime and Social Control (pp. 85-
100). Springer, Cham.
– In Calabrian, south of Italy, there’s a mafia-type organization: the ‘ndraghetta’
which affects the environment.
o Aspects of OC in public services are waste disposal – construction and
maintenance = dirty collar crime = result of lax implementation and
enforcement
Results into corruption, pollution and completed or semi-completed
projects that are inadequate or even dangerous.
a system of unruly operates in the interests of ‘ndragheta and
local elites to maintain weakness in regulatory oversight,
contract compliance and environmental safeguards.
– Causes and effect of OC: underdevelopment, economic depression and
unemployment
– The mafia-group is a very flexible organization, enjoy territorial autonomy and
protection from a common brand a structure of power based on intimidation and
having a long-term criminal plan – possesses a very strong political dimension
o With the control of the territory, from the smallest to the biggest criminal
and economic opportunity, the clans in the region, often act as alternative
governance players and are sometimes the only investors
A mafia type criminal system supported by social prestige and
embedded in society
Financial gains & interest & social structures with strategic
goals
o Requires involvement and proximity of political and
entrepreneurial figures = grey area
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