Ross, Edward (1866–1951)

E. A. ROSS was a very influential sociologist of his time. He was well known as one of the founding fathers of American sociology. Ross attended Coe College in Iowa where he earned a A.B. degree in 1886. Awarded his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1891, his career spanned over 35 years and his influence is still felt today. The basic elements of Ross's extensive work can best be examined[Page 703] in his Foundations of Sociology (1905), Social Control (1901), Social Psychology (1908), Principles of Sociology (1920, 1930, 1938), and Sin and Society: An Analysis of Latter-Day Inequity (1907). Ross explored the subject matter of sociology and the nature of sociology in relation to the other social sciences.

Although he never conducted research on crime or developed specific criminological theories, his research on social control has had a major impact on criminology. In fact, he provided the first separate dialogue on the subject. Ross outlined the theory of social control by identifying the grounds of control, the means of control, and the system of control.

His book, Sin and Society, vividly expressed his dismay about corrupt business practices. Ross conceptualized the idea of the criminaloid as a social type who enjoys a public image as a pillar of the community and a paragon of virtue; but beneath this veneer of respectability is actually a very different persona, one that is committed to personal gain through any means. The criminaloids encounter feeble opposition and since their practices are often more lucrative than the typical criminal act, they distance their more scrupulous rivals in business and politics and reap an uncommon worldly prosperity. The key to the criminaloid is not evil impulse, but moral insensibility.

The criminaloid prefers to prey on the anonymous public and is therefore an even greater threat. He even goes beyond this by convincing others to act instead of acting himself, which protects him from liability and being labeled a criminal, and is instead immune to such scrutiny. The criminaloid practices a protective impersonation of the good. The criminoloid counterfeits the good citizen.

The criminaloid plays the support of his local or special group against the larger society. He identifies with some legitimate group and, when necessary, he calls upon this group to protect its own. He will use guile and political connections to rebuke reforms which would have an impact on his practices. Ross believed so long as the public conscious is lazy, the criminaloid has no sense of immorality. The criminaloid flourishes until the growth of morality overtakes the growth of opportunities to prey upon.

Ross regarded these criminaloids as men who lacked morals and he believed that they were directly accountable for unnecessary deaths of consumers and workers. Ross believed that these actions needed to be examined and they were just as, if not more, harmful than the ordinary criminal. The criminaloid personifies the corporate criminal and is an antecedent of Edwin H. Sutherland's white-collar criminal.