Friday, June 09, 2006
Capitalist Cornerstone
"Crime is not a by-product of an otherwise effectively working political economy: it is a main product of that political economy. Crime is in fact a cornerstone on which the political and economic relations of democratic-capitalist societies are constructed.
Crime is a political phenomenon which takes its character from the economic institutions that exist at a particular point in time. ...My research has shown very clearly that organized crime really consists of a coalition of politicians, law-enforcement people, businessmen, union leaders, and (in some ways least important of all) racketeers."
--William J. Chambliss, author of On the Take
Crime is a political phenomenon which takes its character from the economic institutions that exist at a particular point in time. ...My research has shown very clearly that organized crime really consists of a coalition of politicians, law-enforcement people, businessmen, union leaders, and (in some ways least important of all) racketeers."
--William J. Chambliss, author of On the Take
