Author Description

Occupational crime does not always represent anarchic criminal behavior. It is often subject to socially determined rules that act to victimize cheaters as well as their prey. Looking at occupations as an anthropologist looks at cultures, the author divides workplace cheats into four groups -- hawks, donkeys, wolves, and vultures -- each with a distinct ideology, attitude, and world view. He employs quotes from more than 100 informants at all social levels to reveal the underlife of waiters, hairdressers, dockworkers, taxi drivers, and other occupational groups. They explain how and why they cheat, lie, and deceive their customers and clients; how they learn the concealed tricks of their trades; and how they justify their actions. The author challenges those who condemn cheating to discover how cheats' energy, ingenuity, and initiative can be harnessed in respectable ways. The alternative economies are too large to ignore, often too informal to detect, and too resilient to control. Currently, for increasing numbers of people, they make more sense than traditional economic behavior.