Corporate Wrongdoing in Canada offers a comprehensive and critical examination of the widespread harms caused by corporate activity in Canadian society. From polluting the environment and unsafe working conditions to consumer exploitation, wage theft, and the erosion of democratic accountability, corporations inflict profound harm that often falls outside traditional legal definitions of crime. Drawing on a social harm or "zemiological" framework, Dowler and Antonowicz challenge students to rethink how wrongdoing is defined, regulated, and permitted to persist.
Grounded firmly in the Canadian context, this book presents the historical, theoretical, and regulatory foundations of corporate wrongdoing while highlighting how corporate power is produced, protected, and normalized. Through a range of real-world Canadian case studies and examples in popular films and media, the authors examine the strategies corporations employ to evade accountability and highlight the roles of media, government, and advocacy in both enabling and resisting harm.
Organized around a unique typology of harm encompassing environmental, consumer, worker, economic, and democratic harms, the authors expand the scope of corporate wrongdoing to include areas often excluded from conventional analyses, such as long-term care, housing markets, and the privatization of healthcare and education. Written in clear, accessible language and offering a wealth of critical analysis, Corporate Wrongdoing in Canada is a thorough, engaging, and accessible text for criminology, law, and sociology students in courses focused on corporate crimes, white-collar crimes, and social harms.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Historical Foundations of Corporate Wrongdoing
Chapter 3: Theoretical Foundations of Corporate Wrongdoing
Chapter 4: Harm to the Environment
Chapter 5: Harm to the Economy
Chapter 6: Harm to Workers
Chapter 7: Harm to Consumers
Chapter 8: Harm to Democracy
Chapter 9: Deceit & Denial: The Corporate Playbook in Action
Chapter 10: Conclusion
Glossary
References
About the Author :
Kenneth Dowler, Associate Professor and founding member of the Criminology Department at Wilfrid Laurier University. His primary research interests are media criminology, corporate wrongdoing, and police-based propaganda, also known as Copaganda. His past work focused on the portrayal of crime in broadcast news and the media's influence on public attitudes toward crime and justice. He has served as a guest editor for several journals and wrote (with Dr. Thomas Fleming) The Canadian Criminal Justice System. Most recently, he co-authored Corporate Wrongdoing on Film: The 'Public Be Damned.'
Daniel Antonowicz, Associate Professor and founding member of the Criminology Department at Wilfrid Laurier University. He has worked as a research officer for various Canadian federal government departments such as the Correctional Service of Canada and the Department of Justice. He has taught corporate crime for over 15 years. His research interests include corporate wrongdoing, the essential characteristics of effective correctional treatment programs, and offender assessment. Most recently, he co-authored Corporate Wrongdoing on Film: The 'Public Be Damned.'
