Financial Crime and Edgework

• In Event: Risk-Taking, Boundary-Breaking and Edgework in the Study of Deviance and Crime

Abstract

The theorization of Edgework, following Lyng's initial formulation in the 1990's, has been used to analyze a variety of risk-taking and boundary-skirting behaviors, both 'legitimate' and illegal. However, this mode of analysis which emphasizes the phenomenological examination of thrill-seeking and transgression has not been extensively used to study those who engage in white collar offenses. The "Seductions of Crime" Jack Katz explored in his book, for example, were "street" crimes. This paper lays the groundwork for understanding financial crime as a form of edgework, and posits that to understand such crime one must look at the interplay between risk-taking outside of the workplace, legitimate risk-taking inside the workplace, and how these two pursuits may intersect in helping to explain moral-boundary crossing.

Author

• Colleen Eren, CUNY LaGuardia