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26 Critical Criminology 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/ctlcrm26 and id is 1 raw text is: Crit Crim (2018) 26:1-28 CrossMark https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-017-9381-8 Cognitive Dissonance Resolution Strategies After Exposure to Corporate Violence Scenarios Cedric Michell' Published online: 31 October 2017 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017 Abstract This study uses cognitive dissonance as a theoretical avenue to identify factors that might hinder the public's acceptance of incontrovertible facts about corporate violence (i.e., the calculated endangerment of civilians, workers, and customers). Three hundred and twenty-seven participants answered a survey that measured their (1) support for capitalism, (2) level of nationalism, (3) socio-demographic characteristics, and (3) attitudes toward three scenarios describing corporate violence cases. These attitudes comprised partici- pants' (a) acceptance of the scenarios as true, (b) perceived seriousness of the cases presented to them, and (c) support for several statements made to justify the companies' actions. Results of statistical analyses suggest that subjects who scored higher on the nationalism and pro-capitalism scales were less likely to rate the cases as serious, and more inclined to rationalize the corporations' actions. These findings imply that myth adherence might lead business supporters and nationalists to reject inconvenient truths relative to crimes of the powerful, which would then undermine the effect of increased awareness on prosecutorial efforts against corporate crime in the U.S. Introduction The rare studies that have investigated the intersection of knowledge about white-collar crime and attitudes toward its perpetrators (Michel et al. 2015, 2016a, b) have identified several popular myths, the most salient of which being the physical harmlessness of upper- world criminality. Phrased differently, subjects seemed unaware that corporate violence (i.e., companies' calculated endangerment of customers, workers, and civilians) claims more lives annually than does criminal homicide (Herbert and Landrigan 2000; Lynch and Michalowski 2006; Reiman and Leighton 2010). Participants were also misinformed about ® Cedric Michel cmichel@ut.edu Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Tampa, 401, W. Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33606-1490, USA Springer

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