[Ads-l] Antedating of "White-Collar Crime"

[Shapiro, Fred]

There is an isolated pre-Sutherland occurrence of "white collar crime" in newspapers.com.  Although this is isolated in the citational record, it seems likely that it is employing an already existing term.

white-collar crime (OED 1940)

1930 _Rochester Democrat and Chronicle_ 18 Oct. 5/1 (Newspapers.com)  Berry was one of several pleading guilty to the "white collar crime" of forgery today.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2020 5:41 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of White-Collar Crime

The OED has 1940 as its first citation for "white-collar crime."  Here is an example from 1934, although with a slightly different meaning, since here it refers to confidence men and similar tricksters - those who purport to be white-collar workers, rather than those who actually are white-collar workers but are abusing their position.  From the (Washington, D.C.) Sunday Star (Nov. 4, 1934) (NewspaperArchive):

"Cites "White Collar" Crime
The existing wave of violent crime is serious, but the "white collar" crime wave, which is always with us, is just as serious, Louis Rothschild, director of the Better Business Bureau, warned in radio addresses during the past week.
Large numbers of persons are made homeless, forced into institutions or made objects of charity through the scheming of "white collar bandits," Rothschild said.
He placed in such a class fake security promoters, confidence men of various types, land schemers and the like.  These, he said, are more contemptible than burglars and hold-up men."

The modern understanding of "white-collar crime" is thought to have been formulated by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland and presented in 1939.  I believe it is Sutherland's formulation that is referenced in the 1940 cite in the OED.  The New York Times has an earlier quotation from Sutherland (Dec. 28, 1939; datelined Dec. 27):  ""The financial cost of white-collar crime," Dr. Sutherland went on, "is probably several times as great as the financial cost of the crimes which are customarily regarded as the crime problem.""


John Baker


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