Business as Usual: Denial of Corporate Crime

• In Event: Corporate Crime in the U.S. and Europe

Abstract

Drawing on Stanley Cohen's framework on denials, the paper explores the strategies applied by three corporations when defending themselves against accusations of committing crimes. How have companies justified and defended themselves against the crimes they accused of? The focus of the study is on how their defense has manifested itself in press releases, information on websites, preliminary investigation material and internal reports and investigations which are contracted out to external providers. Within each of the three cases, expression of defense strategies is addressed by a frame analysis. The project aims not only to describe how corporate agents act through different statements, but also why. Based on the empirical material, the ambition of the project is to develop a theoretical model of explanation that will enable a greater understanding of the processes underlying different types of defense mechanisms.

Author

• Isabel Schoultz, Stockholm University