**6. References**

Adams, J. T. 1931. *The Epic of America*. Boston: Little, Brown.

<sup>3</sup> In Merton's subsequent publications and personal interviews, he reiterated that his notion of "deviant behavior" did not explicitly relate to individual level cognition; rather, it was implicitly related to individual cognitive behavior, such as justification, neutralization, and rationalization, as a consequent of external structural forces that impressed themselves upon individual human conduct.

its strong emphasis on the importance of accumulating monetary rewards with its relatively weak emphasis on the importance of following legitimate rules and regulations to do so. In other words, corporate executives seek opportunities to exploit/disregard normative rules and regulations when these rules and regulation threaten to interfere with the realization of

**4.3 Corporate executives justify/rationalize fraudulent behavior (Rationalization)** 

A corporate environment that is preoccupied with monetary success, and that implicitly or explicitly allows corporate executives to exploit/disregard regulatory controls, also provides justification/rationalization for success by any means such as fraud. In this regard, the American Dream is a mixed blessing, providing justification/rationalization for both the best and the worst elements of the American character and society (Messner and Rosenfeld 1994, p.7), or in the words of sociologist Robert K. Merton, "A cardinal American virtue, 'ambition,' promotes a cardinal American vice, 'deviant behavior'" (Merton 1968, p.200).3 Since monetary success is inherently open-ended, that is, it is always possible in principle to have more money; the American Dream offers "no final stopping point," and it requires "never-ending achievement." (Passas 1990, p.159). Therefore, the desire to accumulate money is relentless; it entices corporate executives to pursue their monetary goals by any means necessary and provides justification/rationalization for their monetary success by

To conclude, the three key features of the American Dream theory – Intense emphasis on monetary success, Corporate executives exploit/disregard regulatory controls, and Corporate executives justify/rationalize fraudulent behavior – have their institutional underpinnings in the capitalist economy of the United States. What is distinctive about the capitalist economy of the United States, however, is the exaggerated emphasis on monetary success, which overwhelms other corporate goals and becomes the principal measuring rod for success. The resulting proclivity and pressures to perform induce corporate executives to exploit rules and regulations that stand in the way of corporate success, and at the same time provides rationalization for their non-compliance with rules and regulations. We believe the exaggerated emphasis on monetary success incorporated in American Dream will continue to be a catalyst for fraud by corporate executives in the United States. As such, we wrote this paper to provoke thoughts on corporate executive fraud in American society and to stimulate further empirical research on social variables

3 In Merton's subsequent publications and personal interviews, he reiterated that his notion of "deviant behavior" did not explicitly relate to individual level cognition; rather, it was implicitly related to individual cognitive behavior, such as justification, neutralization, and rationalization, as a consequent

of external structural forces that impressed themselves upon individual human conduct.

their monetary success.

deviant means such as fraud.

**5. Conclusion** 

of executive fraud.

**6. References** 

Adams, J. T. 1931. *The Epic of America*. Boston: Little, Brown.


It is one of the most fundamental and robust result of sociology of education research that the level of education one attains is strongly determined by the socio-economic status and education of his/her parents2. For example, children from industry or farm worker families attain lower education than children from higher social strata in all developed countries (Gambetta, 1987). In other words, education is reproduced from generation to generation. Thus, for more than half a century, sociologists have posed research questions such as: Why is students' level of educational achievement correlated so strongly with their parents' educational attainment? What mechanisms underlie the reproduction of education from one generation to another? Since educational attainment represents one of the key factors of individual economic status (i.e., occupation, income etc.), the fact that it is strongly influenced by social background is perceived as an instance of social injustice. Therefore, many authors ask one more question apart from the above research and theoretical questions: How can we adapt education policy to ensure the weakest possible relationship between students' educational achievement and their social and economic background? And also, what institutional and organizational obstacles weaken the relationship between

However, the efforts to disentangle the complex set of factors behind the generation-togeneration education reproduction cannot avoid the questions of how exactly people obtain education and what processes are involved. In order to fully understand the process of education reproduction, we should not "only" analyze the relationship between the education of parents and their children but, unavoidably, we should delve into a vast array of other factors behind educational processes such as the education system's institutional design, parents and peers, teachers and teaching methods, school processes, school climate

Research evidence suggests that educational achievement is indeed determined by a large number of factors of different strengths. The strength of each factor can be best estimated by

1 The work on this chapter was supported by the Research Framework of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Charles University in Prague, entitled Visions and Strategies

2 Different operationalizations of the level of education exist. Primarily, it is distinguished between *educational achievement* such as school grades or test results and *educational attainment* such as receiving

for the Development of the Czech Society within the EU (MSM0021620841).

educational attainment and individual abilities/efforts?

**1. Introduction1**

and many others.

secondary or tertiary education certificate.

*Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague,* 

Arnošt Veselý

*The Czech Republic* 

Taylor, I., P. Walton, and J. Young. 1973. *The New Criminology: For a Social Theory of Deviance*. New York: Harper & Row. **12** 
