The rich steal more than the poor, new book says
Really, what the heck is going on with shoplifting these days?
Only a week after we discussed that, oddly, a recent uptick in thievery meant the economy was back on track (stealing is an inside job, the thinking goes, and more thefts mean workers are no longer crippled by fear of losing their employ), news comes out that once again throws the idea of shoplifting on its head.
According to a new study on the five-finger discount, the rich steal much more than the poor, suggesting that for every starving mother trying to feed her kids, there may be more than a few Winona Ryders in the fold.
By the survey, quoted in the new book, The Steal, Americans with incomes of $70,000-plus each year shoplift 30 per cent more than those earning up to $20,000.
Why?
“Entitlement is certainly a factor,” Rachel Shteir, the book’s author, tells Time.com. “Rage is a factor. A lot of people feel that they are the victims in whatever way – whether it’s their life circumstances, or that they’re the victims of a larger economic plot, like Bernie Madoff. There’s this idea of avenging yourself on an impersonal entity, like a store. You see what others have – like on TMZ – and you think, ‘What difference does this make?’”
It’s an interesting take – that, in spite of what we may believe, shoplifting is rarely done out of necessity – but it’s apparently backed by what items we steal.
Women, Time suggests, steal cosmetics. Men steal electronics. Mad Men- and He-Man-stereotypes, Shteir says.
Certainly, though, what’s most disturbing in all this is that ‘E’ word above.
“There’s a pervasive idea that individuals are getting the raw deal, that stores are the true criminals,” Shteir notes. “They’re multinationals, they can afford for people to shoplift, they’re insured.”
But why is it that only wealthy Americans feel this sense of entitlement? If anything, shouldn’t it be lower-income consumers that should feel it’s their “right” to steal?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 12, 2021 11:52:28 AM
It probably also has a lot to do with the fact that a well-dressed person is more likely to get away with stealing because of the popular perception that a poor looking person is more likely to steal. Because of that, the single mom with a stroller is followed around the store by suspicious employees while the well-dressed thief is assumed to be an upstanding citizen. Either of those people may feel that stealing from the store is not morally objectionable, but one of them is far more likely to get caught if she does steal.
Posted by: JS | Jul 13, 2021 3:14:56 AM
White people steal more than blacks and latinos combined. That's a fact.
Posted by: Dave | Jul 13, 2021 4:16:26 AM
JS...there's more white people in the USA than blacks and latinos combined. Read the article...shoplifting is not based on economic status, race, or material need.
It is well documented that shop lifting shows an emotional or psychological need. That's what the article talks about. Cheers!
Posted by: Chuck | Jul 13, 2021 11:29:52 AM
Likley has more to do with out-right greed. Also a greater emphasis on materials usually goes hand in hand with above average income earners. Status and greed.
Posted by: Machiavelli | Jul 13, 2021 11:43:03 AM
Not surprising in the least. Nobody ever gets ahead by following the rules. Wealthier people are typically people that have come to best understand the world we live in and how to manuipulate that world to give them what they want. Call it entitlement or sophisticated gathering skills. Wealthy people don't get their way because the are wealthy, they become wealthy because they get their way. If this isn't the case somebody else will simply take their wealth from them.
Poor people break the law because they don't care about the rule of law or they have no other choice. Society rightly hunts down these people that don't respect the law because they are dangerous to society and they try to help those with no other options.
Wealthy people understand the law and choose to operate outside of it for their own benefit. The constraints of the law give them the ability to do things that others (the poor) can't and protect them from the poor. This is why they endorse the rule of law. At the same time they don't trouble themselves with actually following it where it suits them to not follow it.
I personally believe shoplifting is a poor risk for a wealthy individual to take but in their eyes it fulfills their desire to be above and better than the system they live in.
Posted by: Gregory Roth | Jul 13, 2021 12:16:46 PM
The reason is obvious, they are greedy bastards.
Posted by: bongstar420 | Aug 4, 2021 1:21:48 AM
Society should spend more time hunting down the rich thieves since they steal much more. You have to catch a 1000 poor people to equal the theft of 1 rich person.
Machiavelli falsely paints rich and poor thieves differently. The rich are less virtuous then the poor in every case. After all, need is very much diminished the more wealth you obtain. The rich have less respect for the rule of law since they commonly perceive that the law is for the commoners.
Its like the papal during the inquisition. The pope can order all the murders he wants. But for a commoner to defend their self from the papal, that's disrespect for the law.