This article examines two starkly different cases—the abuse of prisoners in
the Abu Ghraib prison and the falsification of architectural internship
reports—in developing a neo-institutional analysis of deviance within
organizations. We argue that the organization’s role extends beyond a
failure to act (e.g. monitor, prevent, punish) to include implementing formal
structures—decoupling—that make individual deviance both
predictable and a predicate of organizational ‘success’. We
identify environmental conditions associated with decoupling, strategies to achieve
it and organizational responses of deflection. By linking macro-level rule
environments, organizational structure and participant behavior, we offer a
theoretical framework that elides the long-standing definitional struggles in
white-collar crime research through the simultaneous consideration of the
organization as environment and the environment of the organization.
Agnew, Robert
(1992)
‘Foundation for a General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency’
, Criminology30(1):
47-87
.
2.
Arendt, Hannah
(1963) Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of
Evil.
London: Faber & Faber
.
3.
Biderman, Alfred
and
Albert J. Reiss
(1967)
‘On Exploring the “Dark Figure” of Crime’
, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science357 (November):
1-15
.
4.
Boyer, Ernest L.
and
Lee D. Mitgang
(1996) Building Community: A New Future for Architecture
Education and Practice.
Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation
.
5.
Braithwaite, John
(1984) Corporate Crime in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
.
6.
Braithwaite, John
(1985)
‘White Collar Crime’
, Annual Review of Sociology11:
1-25
.
7.
Cha, Ariana Eunjung
and
Ellen McCarthy
(2004)
‘Prison Scandal Indicates Gap in US Chain of Command’
, Washington Post 5 May:
A20-A20
.
8.
Cha, Ariana Eunjung
and
Renae Merle
(2004)
‘Line Increasingly Blurred Between Soldiers and Civilian Contractors’
, Washington Post 13 May:
A01-A01
.
9.
Chandrasekaran, Rajiv
and
Scott Wilson
(2004)
‘Mistreatment of Detainees Went Beyond Guards’ Abuse:
Ex-prisoners, Red Cross Cite Flawed Arrests, Denial of Rights’
, Washington Post 11 May:
A01-A01
.
10.
Cloward, Richard
(1959)
‘Illegitimate Means, Anomie and Deviant Behavior’
, American Sociological Review24(2):
164-176
.
11.
Crelinsten, Ronald D.
(2003)
‘The World of Torture: A Constructed Reality’
, Theoretical Criminology7(3):
293-318
.
12.
Cressey, Donald R.
(1988) ‘The Poverty of Theory in Corporate Crime
Research’, in
Neal Shover
and
John Paul Wright
(eds) Crimes of Privilege, pp. 175-194.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
13.
Cuff, Dana
(1992) Architecture: The Story of a Practice.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
14.
Czarnecki, John
(2001)
‘Task Force Calls for Continuum of Learning’
, Arch Record2-2
. Available at
http://www.architecturalrecord.com/archrecord2/work/april01/citf.asp
(accessed 27 March 2006).
15.
Dalton, Melville
(1959) Men Who Manage: Fusions of Feeling and Theory in
Administration.
New York: John Wiley & Sons
.
16.
DiMaggio, Paul
and
Walter Powell
(1983)
‘The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and
Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields’
, American Sociological Review48(2):
147-160
.
17.
DiMaggio, Paul
and
Walter Powell
(eds) (1991) The New Institutionalism in Organizational
Analysis.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
18.
Dubin, Robert
(1959)
‘Deviant Behavior and Social Structure: Continuities in Social Theory’
, American Sociological Review24(2):
147-164
.
19.
Gellman, Barton
and
R. Jeffrey Smith
(2004)
‘Intelligence Official Informed Defense Dep’t in June’
, Washington Post 8 December:
A01-A01
.
20.
Gioia, Dennis A.
(1992)
‘Pinto Fires and Personal Ethics: A Script Analysis of Missed Opportunities’
, Journal of Business Ethics11:
379-389
.
21.
Glasberg, Davita Sileen
and
Dan Skidmore
(1998)
‘The Dialectics of White-Collar Crime: The Anatomy of the Savings
and Loan Crisis and the Case of the Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association’
, American Journal of Economics and Sociology57(4):
423-449
.
22.
Graham, Bradley
(2004)
‘No Pattern of Prisoner Abuse, General Says: All Who Are Found
Guilty Will Be Held Accountable, Abizaid Tells Senators’
, Washington Post 20 May:
A23-A23
.
23.
Graham, Bradley
and
Thomas E. Ricks
(2004)
‘Leadership Failure is Blamed in Abuse: Soldiers’
Actions Weren’t Ordered, General Says’
, Washington Post 12 May:
A01-A01
.
24.
Guttman, Robert
(1988) Architectural Practice: A Critical View.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
.
25.
Higham, Scott
and
Joe Stevens
(2004)
‘Punishment and Amusement: Documents Indicate 3 Photos Were Not
Staged for Interrogation’
, Washington Post 22 May:
A01-A01
.
26.
Higham, Scott
,
Josh White
and
Christian Davenport
(2004)
‘A Prison on the Brink: Usual Military Checks and Balances Went Missing’
, Washington Post 9 May:
A01-A01
.
27.
Hill, Pamela J.
and
Beth A. Quinn
(1998)
‘Building a Profession: Findings from the Architectural
Internship Evaluation Project’
, keynote speech presented to the Architectural Internship
Summit, Shaker Village, KY, April.
28.
Hochstetler, Andy
and
Heith Copes
(2001) ‘Organizational Culture and
Organizational Crime’, in
Neal Shover
and
John Paul Wright
(eds) Crimes of Privilege, pp. 210-222.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
29.
Jackall, Robert
(1988) Moral Mazes.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
30.
Kelman, Herbert C.
and
V. Lee Hamilton
(1989) Crimes of Obedience: Towards a Social Psychology of
Authority and Responsibility.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
.
31.
McCoy, Alfred W.
(2005)
‘Cruel Science: CIA Torture and US Foreign Policy’
, New England Journal of Public Policy19(2):
209-262
.
32.
Merton, Robert
(1938)
‘Social Structure and Anomie’
, American Sociological Review3(5):
672-682
.
33.
Meyer, John
and
Brian Rowan
(1977)
‘Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony’
, American Journal of Sociology83(2):
340-363
.
34.
Meyer, John
,
W. Richard Scott
and
Terrence Deal
(1981) ‘Institutional and Technical Sources of
Organizational Structure: Explaining Structure in Educational
Organizations’, in
John Meyer
and
W. Richard Scott
(eds) (1992) Organizational Environments: Ritual and
Rationality, pp. 45-67.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage
.
35.
Mitgang, Lee
(1999)
‘Overwhelmed by Requirements, Interns Cheat on Reports to NCARB’
, Architectural Record July: 55,
62-62
.
36.
Monahan, Susanne C.
and
Beth A. Quinn
(2002)
‘Designed for Deviance: A Neo-institutional Explanation of
Falsification in Architecture’s IDP Program’
, paper presented at the American Sociological Association
meetings, Washington, DC, August.
37.
Pearce, Frank
(2001) ‘Crime and Capitalist Business
Organizations’, in
Neal Shover
and
John Paul Wright
(eds) Crimes of Privilege, pp. 35-48.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
38.
Pearce, Frank
and
S. Tombs
(1998) Toxic Capitalism: Corporate Crime and the Chemical
Industry.
Farnborough: Ashgate
.
39.
Quinn, Beth A.
(2003)
‘Building a Profession: A Sociological Analysis of Architectural Internship’
, Journal of Architectural Education56(4):
41-49
.
40.
Quinn, Beth A.
and
Pamela J. Hill
(2000)
‘Learning to Lie: Falsification in Architectural Internship’
, in Proceedings of the Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture, pp.
489-494
. Washington, DC: ACSA.
41.
Quinn, Beth A.
and
Susanne C. Monahan
(2001)
‘Building Deviance: A Neo-institutional Explanation of
Occupational and Corporate Misconduct’
, paper presented at the joint meeting of the Law and Society
Association and the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law of the
International Sociological Association, Budapest,
Hungary, July.
42.
Schlegel, Kip
and
David Weisburn
(1993) ‘White-Collar Crime: The Parallax
View’, in
Kip Schlegel
and
David Weisburn
(eds) White-Collar Crime Reconsidered, pp.
3-27.
Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press
.
43.
Scott, W. Richard
(2001) Institutions and Organizations (2nd
edn).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
.
44.
Scott, W. Richard
(2003) Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open
Systems (5th edn).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
.
45.
Selznick, Phillip
(1948)
‘Foundations of the Theory of Organizations’
, American Sociological Review13(1):
25-35
.
46.
Shapiro, Susan
(1990)
‘Collaring the Crime not the Criminal: Reconsidering the Concept
of White-Collar Crime’
, American Sociological Review55(3):
346-365
.
47.
Skolnick, Jerome H.
and
James J. Fyfe
(1993) Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of
Force.
New York: Free Press
.
48.
Slevin, Peter
(2004)
‘System Failures Cited for Delayed Action on Abuses’
, Washington Post 20 May:
A19-A19
.
49.
Slevin, Peter
and
Robin Wright
(2004)
‘Pentagon Was Warned of Abuse Months Ago: US Officials, Rights
Groups Sought Changes’
, Washington Post 8 May:
A12-A12
.
50.
Smith, R. Jeffrey
(2004)
‘Documents Helped Sow Abuse, Army Report Finds’
, Washington Post 30 August:
A01-A01
.
51.
Smith, R. Jeffrey
and
Josh White
(2004)
‘General Asserts She Was Overruled on Prison Moves’
, Washington Post 12 May:
A01-A01
.
52.
Sutherland, Edwin
(1949) White Collar Crime.
New York: Dryden
.
53.
Taguba, Antonio M.
(2004) Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military
Police Brigade. Available at
http://www.npr.org/iraq/2004/prison_abuse_report.pdf (accessed 27 March 2006).
54.
Taylor, Frederick
(1911) The Principles of Scientific Management.
New York: Harper
.
55.
Vandivier, Kermit
(1972) ‘Why Should My Conscience Bother Me? Hiding Aircraft
Brake Hazards’, in
M. David Erman
and
Richard J. Lundman
(eds) (1996) Corporate and Governmental Deviance,
5th edn, pp. 118-138.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
56.
Van Maanen, John
(1991) ‘The Smile Factory: Work at
Disneyland’, in
Peter J. Frost
,
Larry F. Moore
,
Meryl Reis Louis
,
Craig C. Lundberg
and
Joanne Martin
(eds) Reframing Organizational Culture, pp.
58-76.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage
.
Vaughan, Diane
(1997) ‘Anomie Theory and Organizations: Culture
and the Normalization of Deviance at NASA’, in
Nikos Passas
and
Robert Agnew
(eds) The Future of Anomie Theory, pp.
95-123.
Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press
.
59.
Vedantam, Shankar
(2004)
‘The Psychology of Torture: Past Incidents Show Abusers Think
Ends Justify the Means’
, Washington Post 11 May:
A14-A14
.
60.
Weber, Max
(1947 [1924]) The Theory of Social and Economic
Organization. Ed.
A. H. Henderson
and
Talcott Parsons
.
Glencoe, IL: Free Press
.
61.
White, Josh
(2004)
‘US Generals in Iraq Were Told of Abuse Early, Inquiry Finds’
, Washington Post 1 December:
A01-A01
.
62.
White, Josh
and
Mike Allen
(2004)
‘Pentagon: No Special Prison Policy; Defense Dept. Denies Report
That Top Officials Authorized Detainee Abuse’
, Washington Post 17 May:
A16-A16
.
63.
White, Josh
and
Scott Higham
(2004)
‘Army Calls Abuses “Aberrations”: Report
Cites 94 Detainee-Mistreatment Cases in Iraq and Afghanistan’
, Washington Post 23 July:
A01-A01
.
64.
Wilson, L.
(1979)
‘The Doctrine of Willful Blindness’
, University of New Brunswick Law Review,
28-28
.
65.
Wright, Robin
and
Glenn Kessler
(2004)
‘Rejection of Prison Abuse Was Sought: Administration Was
Reluctant, Group Say’
, Washington Post 16 May:
A28-A28
.
