The Cheating Culture

Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead

David Callahan

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9780156035576
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Theory
• Index: Social Sciences

A public policy expert reveals how decades of deregulation and increasing inequality have fostered a culture of cheating across America. There have always been people who cut corners, but in The Cheating Culture, David Callahan demonstrates how cheating on every level—from the highly publicized corporate scandals to Little League fraud—has risen dramatically in recent decades. He then asks the simple yet provocative questions: Why all the cheating? Why now? Callahan pins the blame on today's dog-eat-dog economic climate. An unfettered market and unprecedented economic inequality have corroded our values and threaten the level playing field so central to American democracy itself. Through revealing interviews and extensive data analysis, Callahan takes readers on a revealing tour of cheating in America and offers a powerful argument for why it matters.

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Aaron, Clarence, 247–48

Abrams, Frank, 45

accounting: cheating in, 21, 146–47

fraud at Xerox, 140–44

inadequate professional discipline in, 241

accounting firms: auditor-client relationship in, 145–46, 150

conflicts of interest in, 145–46, 149–51

Leavitt attempts to reform, 151–52

offer consulting services, 149–50

and savings and loan failures, 148

Adelphia Communications, 137

Alexander, Donald, 155, 159

Alger, Horatio, 42

Almonte, Danny: cheats in Little League, 69–72

Ambrose, Stephen: plagiarism scandal, viii, 12, 88

American Bar Association: ethical guidelines of, 36, 239

American Commonwealth, The (Bryce), 63

American Enterprise Institute: political views, 162–63

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 149

fights SEC, 151

on tax evasion, 178

American Lawyer, The, investigates billing practices, 35–36

American Medical Association: ethical guidelines of, 49–50, 54, 240

American values: Bush administration and, 293

cheating as threat to, 24–27, 275

Merton on, 172–73

social Darwinism’s effects on, 123–26

and tolerance of lawlessness, 15–17

American voting behavior: Brooks on, 171–72

Amherst College: and admissions cheating, 206, 210

Anschutz, Philip: commits fraud, 137–38

escapes prosecution, 272

Spitzer investigates, 138

Armstrong, Lance: alleged drug use by, 77–79

earnings, 77, 81–83

It’s Not About the Bike, 77

Arthur Andersen: in early accounting scandals, 146–47

conflicts of interest, 149

and corporate ethics, 283

Enron and, 152

and Lincoln Savings and Loan failure, 148

Aspen Institute, 290

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 182

and white-collar crime, 237–38

Association of Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business, 289–90

AstraZeneca, 247

ATM fraud: at Municipal Credit Union, 1–3, 6–8, 119

Audio Home Recording Act, 187

automobile mechanics: fraud by, 28–33, 41...