Snakes and ladders: Upper-middle class male offenders talk about economic crime

This paper explores the ways in which male offenders in professional status occupations prior to conviction construct and justify money-related crime. We report a detailed analysis, based in grounded theory and critical socia l-psychological discourse analysis, of a loosely-structured group interview with four offenders. The men constructed justifications for their offenses in terms of "breadwinning" for their immediate family and economic respons ibility toward their extended "family" of employees and creditors. They rep resented their post-conviction decline in social status as being "dragged d own" by envious "boys" in the state apparatus. They positioned themselves o n moral high ground, despite having been inappropriately sent to the workin g class world of prison ("Dante's Inferno"). We contrast these accounts wit h those of less privileged male offenders.