Purpose -The purpose of this viewpoint paper is to assist in finding solutions for the growing moral and social issues of financial crime plaguing corporations today. Design/methodology/approach -Methodology includes the synthesis of existing theories in economic sociology and criminology to "diagnose" and "treat" the existing flaws in corporate structures that have led to malaise and malfeasance. Theories include differential association, self-control, and control balance, taking into consideration the characteristics of individuals and corporate structures. Findings -Findings suggest that corporate structure has to be critically scrutinized and changes implemented, including close examination of informal and formal communication and salary structures.Practical implications -This paper suggests concrete strategies and policy changes for regulators, corporate decision makers, and academics. Originality/value -The synthesis of existing theories in white collar malfeasance and crime provides a template to increase corporate social responsibility and promote policy/regulatory changes in the current economic climate.

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There is rarely an introductory text in sociology that does not begin with C. Wright Mills’s (1967)distinction between personal troubles and structural or public issues. To lack sociological imagination is to confuse between these two levels of analysis in trying to explain public issues in terms of personal troubles, or history in terms of the individual’s biography. “Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others; Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life” (Mills, 1967:8). Issues are generated in response to the dynamics of the social system and unfold within the larger structural and historical contexts where the character of the individual takes shape. Yet, the most popular explanation of the contemporary financial crisis with its disastrous social and economic consequences is personal greed. It is the greedy investment bankers, corrupt politicians, and unscrupulous lobbyists who are to take the brunt of the current economic meltdown in the United States. A few bad apples on Wall Street have created havoc on Main Street. Here, one may argue that greed that—if not kept in check—which seems to afflict almost everyone, transcending social class and status boundaries, may be a public issue—a structural problem—rather than a problem within the character of the individual. Not to be greedy within the contemporary social and economic system may be considered pathological, an instance of personal trouble.

Fire can shape both the structure and composition of vegetation communities, especially those dominated by species with different regeneration strategies. The dominant species of oak-juniper communities in central Texas include resprouters (oaks [Quercus spp.]) and a reseeder (Ashe juniper [Juniperus ashei Buchholz]). We studied the effects of two overlapping wildfires (1996 and 2009) on oak-juniper woodlands on Fort Hood Military Reservation, Texas, USA. We estimated burn severity and measured vegetation regeneration along permanent transects in once-burned, twice-burned, and nonburned areas. Burn severity was highly variable, but was higher in 1996 than in 2009. In the first growing season after the second fire (2009), understory stem density was 3 to 4 times higher than in 1996, but that difference had disappeared by the third growing season. Overstory density did not differ after the two fires, but density on slopes was 3 to 10 times higher than on mesas. Overall species composition was similar after the two fires, but differed from nonburned areas due to the absence of Ashe juniper. Ashe juniper was still absent from twice-burned areas in 2011, whereas small numbers of junipers (21 ± 34 stems ha−1) had colonized the once-burned areas within three years. Our data suggest that wildfires controlled the historical distribution of Ashe juniper, but not of resprouting species, in the Edwards Plateau, and that long intervals between wildfires are required for Ashe juniper to become a canopy dominant in these woodlands.

Violent initiation rites directed at new members or potential members of an organization are not recent phenomena and not exclusive to joining street gangs or crews. This chapter will explore the origins of violent initiation through history and how contemporary rites used to “welcome” new members in youth gangs mirror other entries into exclusively male enclaves. These rituals include controlled, choreographed patterns of violent behavior, including participants vs. voyeurs and number of blows directed at the initiate before the rite is considered to be completed. In additional to taking a historical perspective, recognized predictive risk factors for gang recruitment are listed, including those identified by Hill et al. (1999) in their Seattle study of juvenile delinquency and how it leads down the slippery slope to gang affiliation.