Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Access Criminology and Criminal Justice journals now

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Criminology and Criminal Justice
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lindgren, S.-A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Other

Economic crime in Sweden

An essentially contested issue

Sven-Åke Lindgren

Göteborg University, Sweden

This article describes and explains the conflicts surrounding economic crime in Sweden between 1975 and 1997. A theoretical approach is employed that views social problems as collective outcomes arising from a clash of interests between different actors. The empirical material comprises public documents and the method employed is a form of qualitative content analysis. The study focuses on the views and positions of the actors concerned in relation to central themes of conflict, such as the phenomenon's definition, extent, victims and harm, causes and countermeasures. Major changes over time have seen the welfare state experiencing competition from the market system as the most prominent category of victimization, and the regulation/control strategy giving way to a strategy of deregulation and self-regulation. The two dominant constellations of actors are an offensive leftist bloc and a more conservative centre-right bloc. These groups represent dominant frames—the social justice/solidarity frame and the deregulation/tax-cut frame—that have served as an ideological infrastructure giving meaning to the economic crime discourse. A clear politicization and polarization have incorporated the economic crime issue into one of 20th-century politics' most well-established conflict patterns. The article concludes with a few comparative impressions based on the limited international literature available in this area.

Key Words: deregulation/tax-cut frame • economic crime discourse • essentially contested issue • ideological conflict • justice/solidarity frame

Criminology and Criminal Justice, Vol. 2, No. 4, 363-383 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/17488958020020040101
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?