Date of Award
12-2002
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Dr. Ronald C. Kramer
Second Advisor
Dr. Douglas Davidson
Third Advisor
Dr. Charles Crawford
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
This thesis elaborates on the nature and scale of state-corporate crime in the Lincoln Savings & Loan Scandal. It provides an account of a political history of the savings and loan industry, the effect of economic deregulation, and the Garn-St. Germain deregulation legislation in the 1980s, which produced the criminogenic (conducive to crime) environment in the savings and loan industry.
This case study supports the hypothesis that criminal behavior at the organizational level results from a coincidence of pressure for goal attainment, availability and perceived attractiveness of illegitimate means, and an absence of effective social control. Therefore, the Lincoln Savings & Loan Scandal represents an example of state-corporate crime in which the pursuit of profit by a corporation along with the failure of state agency to effectively monitor Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, which resulted in a host of criminal activities. Thus, given an integrated theoretical framework, an analysis of state-corporate crime can be integrated through three major theoretical approaches to measure the empirical support for state-corporate crime and the theoretical interpretation of organizational misconduct.
Recommended Citation
Coleman, Ronald B., "Lincoln Savings and Loan Scandal: A Case Study of State-Corporate Crime" (2002). Masters Theses. 5055.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/5055