SOCIOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

ON

CORRUPTION

Made by _ Injila Muslim Zaidi

B.A. LLB (Hons.)
1st semester
Regular batch
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The sole purpose of making this project is to research and
getting knowledge about one of the evils in our society .
Emergence and causes of the evil, the problems faced by the
citizens because of this evil, preventive measures to avoid
the problems and solutions to these problems is the main
objective of working on this project.
I chose the topic to work on is CORRUPTION
because this evil is affecting our society badly .
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my
Professor Mr. Rasheed CA who inspired me to work on this
project.
CONTENTS
INTERODUCTION ................................................. 4
PETTY CORRUPTION ......................................................................... 6
GRAND CORRUPTION ....................................................................... 7
SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION ................................................................... 7
METHODS OF CORRUPTION ............................................................. 8
BRIBERY ............................................................................................ 8
EMBEZZLEMENT, THEFT AND FRAUD ............................................... 8
GRAFT............................................................................................... 9
EXTORTION AND BLACKMAIL ........................................................... 9
INFLUENCE PEDDLING ...................................................................... 9
NETWORKING................................................................................... 9
ABUSE OF DISCRETION ................................................................... 10
FAVORITISM, NEPOTISM AND CLIENTELISM .................................. 10
CAUSES OF CORRUPTION ............................................................... 10
PREVENTING CORRUPTION ............................................................ 11
CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 11
 INTERODUCTION
We all know that corruption is the most effective evil
of development in society. It is just like that disease
which does not leave the patient without taking his
life. In fact, It’s a cancer for the system . It poisons the
administration of a system . Whether it’s functioning of
‘State’ or administration of a college , if corruption is
there, none system can achieve it’s goals .
In general, corruption is a form of dishonesty or
criminal activity undertaken by a person or
organization entrusted with a position of authority,
often to acquire illicit benefit. Corruption may include
many activities including bribery and embezzlement,
though it may also involve practices that are legal in
many countries1. Political corruption occurs when an
office-holder or other governmental employee acts in
an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption is
1
"Report" (PDF). siteresources.worldbank.org.
most commonplace in kleptocracies, oligarchies, narco-
states and mafia states.
Corruption can occur on different scales.
Corruption ranges from small favours between a small
number of people (petty corruption)2, to corruption that
affects the government on a large scale (grand
corruption), and corruption that is so prevalent that it is
part of the everyday structure of society, including
corruption as one of the symptoms of organized crime.
Corruption and crime are endemic sociological
occurrences which appear with regular frequency in
virtually all countries on a global scale in varying degree
and proportion. Individual nations each allocate
domestic resources for the control and regulation of
corruption and crime. Strategies to counter corruption
are often summarized under the umbrella term anti-
corruption.

SCALES OF CORRUPTION
Stephen D. Morris3, a professor of politics, writes
that political corruption is the illegitimate use of public
power to benefit a private interest. Economist Ian
Senior4 defines corruption as an action to (a) secretly
provide (b) a good or a service to a third party (c) so that
he or she can influence certain actions which (d) benefit
the corrupt, a third party, or both (e) in which the corrupt
agent has authority. Daniel Kaufmann5, from the World

2
Elliott, Kimberly Ann (1997). "Corruption as an international policy problem: overview and
recommendations" (PDF). Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.
3
Morris, S.D. (1991), Corruption and Politics in Contemporary Mexico. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa
4
Senior, I. (2006), Corruption – The World’s Big C., Institute of Economic Affairs, London
5
Kaufmann, Daniel; Vicente, Pedro (2005). "Legal Corruption" (PDF). World Bank.
Bank, extends the concept to include 'legal corruption' in
which power is abused within the confines of the law—
as those with power often have the ability to make laws
for their protection. The effect of corruption in
infrastructure is to increase costs and construction time,
lower the quality and decrease the benefit.6
The research work on social corruption developed
at The Unicist Research Institute defines that corruption
allows individuals to profit from the environment through
illegitimate actions while they disintegrate the system
they are part of.7
Corruption can occur on different scales. Corruption
ranges from small favors between a small number of
people (petty corruption),8 to corruption that affects the
government on a large scale (grand corruption), and
corruption that is so prevalent that it is part of the
everyday structure of society, including corruption as
one of the symptoms of organized crime.
Increasingly, a number of indicators and tools have been
developed which can measure different forms of
corruption with increasing accuracy9.

PETTY CORRUPTION
Petty corruption occurs at a smaller scale and takes
place at the implementation end of public services when public
officials meet the public. For example, in many small places
such as registration offices, police stations, state licensing
6
Locatelli, Giorgio; Mariani, Giacomo; Sainati, Tristano; Greco, Marco (2017-04-01). "Corruption in public
projects and megaprojects: There is an elephant in the room!". International Journal of Project
Management. 35 (3): 252–268.
7
Peter Belohlavek (June 2017). "Social Corruption and Corruption Inhibitors as a Complex Adaptive System".
SSRN.
8
Elliott, Kimberly Ann (1997). "Corruption as an international policy problem: overview and
recommendations" (PDF). Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.
9
Hamilton, Alexander (2017). "Can We Measure the Power of the Grabbing Hand? A Comparative Analysis of
Different Indicators of Corruption" (PDF). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series.
boards,1011 and many other private and government sectors.
Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by
low- and mid-level public officials in their interactions with
ordinary citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or
services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments
and other agencies.

GRAND CORRUPTION
Grand corruption is defined as corruption occurring at the
highest levels of government in a way that requires significant
subversion of the political, legal and economic systems. Such
corruption is commonly found in countries with authoritarian or
dictatorial governments but also in those without adequate
policing of corruption.12
The government system in many countries is divided into the
legislative, executive and judiciary branches in an attempt to
provide independent services that are less subject to grand
corruption due to their independence from one another.13

SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION
Systemic corruption (or endemic corruption)14 is corruption which is
primarily due to the weaknesses of an organization or process. It can be
contrasted with individual officials or agents who act corruptly within the
system.
Factors which encourage systemic corruption include conflicting
incentives, discretionary powers; monopolistic powers; lack
of transparency; low pay; and a culture of impunity.15 Specific acts of
corruption include "bribery, extortion, and embezzlement" in a system
where "corruption becomes the rule rather than the exception."16
Scholars distinguish between centralized and decentralized systemic
10
"Mishler v. State Bd. of Med. Examiners". Justia Law.
11
"Report" (PDF). supremecourt.org.
12
"Material on Grand corruption" (PDF). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
13
Alt, James. "Political And Judicial Checks On Corruption: Evidence From American State
Governments" (PDF). Projects at Harvard. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-03.
14
"Glossary". U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
15
Lorena Alcazar, Raul Andrade (2001). Diagnosis corruption. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-1-931003-11-7
16
Znoj, Heinzpeter (2009). "Deep Corruption in Indonesia: Discourses, Practices, Histories". In Monique Nuijten,
Gerhard Anders. Corruption and the secret of law: a legal anthropological perspective. Ashgate. pp. 53–
54. ISBN 978-0-7546-7682-9
corruption, depending on which level of state or government corruption
takes place; in countries such as the Post-Soviet states both types
occur.17 Some scholars argue that there is a negative duty of western
governments to protect against systematic corruption of underdeveloped
governments.18 19

METHODS OF CORRUPTION
In systemic corruption and grand corruption, multiple methods of
corruption are used concurrently with similar aims.20

BRIBERY
Bribery involves the improper use of gifts and favours in exchange for
personal gain. This is also known as kickbacks or, in the Middle East,
as baksheesh. It is the common form of corruption. The types of favours
given are diverse and may include money, gifts, sexual favours,
company shares, entertainment, employment and political benefits. The
personal gain that is given can be anything from actively giving
preferential treatment to having an indiscretion or crime overlooked.21
Bribery can sometimes form a part of the systemic use of corruption for
other ends, for example to perpetrate further corruption. Bribery can
make officials more susceptible to blackmail or to extortion.

EMBEZZLEMENT, THEFT AND FRAUD

Embezzlement and theft involve someone with access to funds or assets
illegally taking control of them. Fraud involves using deception to
convince the owner of funds or assets to give them up to an
unauthorized party.
Examples include the misdirection of company funds into "shadow
companies" (and then into the pockets of corrupt employees), the
skimming of foreign aid money, scams and other corrupt activity.

17
Legvold, Robert (2009). "Corruption, the Criminalized State, and Post-Soviet Transitions". In Robert I.
Rotberg. Corruption, global security, and world orde. Brookings Institution. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-8157-0329-7.
18
Merle, Jean-Christophe, ed. (2013). "Global Challenges to Liberal Democracy". Spheres of Global Justice. 1:
812.
19
Pogge, Thomas. "Severe Poverty as a Violation of Negative Duties". thomaspogge.com. Archived from the
,original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
20
"United Nations Handbook on Practical Anti-Corruption Measures For Prosecutors and Investigators" (PDF).
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Retrieved 3 November 2012.
21
Wang, Peng (2013). "The rise of the Red Mafia in China: a case study of organised crime and corruption in
Chongqing". Trends in Organized Crime. 16 (1): 49–73. doi:10.1007/s12117-012-9179-8
 GRAFT
The political act of Graft (American English), is a well known and now
global form of political corruption, being the unscrupulous and illegal use
of a politician's authority for personal gain, when funds intended for
public projects are intentionally misdirected in order to maximize the
benefits to illegally private interests of the corrupted individual(s) and
their cronies.

EXTORTION AND BLACKMAIL

While bribery is the use of positive inducements for corrupt
aims, extortion and blackmail centre around the use of threats. This can
be the threat of violence or false imprisonment as well as exposure of an
individual's secrets or prior crimes.
This includes such behavior as an influential person threatening to go to
the media if they do not receive speedy medical treatment (at the
expense of other patients), threatening a public official with exposure of
their secrets if they do not vote in a particular manner, or demanding
money in exchange for continued secrecy.

INFLUENCE PEDDLING22
Influence peddling is the illegal practice of using one's influence in
government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favours or
preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment.

NETWORKING
Networking can be an effective way for job-seekers to gain a competitive
edge over others in the job-market. The idea is to cultivate personal
relationships with prospective employers, selection panelists, and
others, in the hope that these personal affections will influence future
hiring decisions. This form of networking has been described as an
attempt to corrupt formal hiring processes, where all candidates are
given an equal opportunity to demonstrate their merits to selectors. The
networker is accused of seeking non-meritocratic advantage over other
candidates; advantage that is based on personal fondness rather than

 22
Dobos, Ned (14 September 2015). "Networking, Corruption, and Subversion". J Bus Ethics. 144(3): 1–
12. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2853-4.
on any objective appraisal of which candidate is most qualified for the
position.

ABUSE OF DISCRETION
Abuse of discretion refers to the misuse of one's powers and decision-
making facilities. Examples include a judge improperly dismissing a
criminal case or a customs official using their discretion to allow a
banned substance through a port.

FAVORITISM, NEPOTISM AND CLIENTELISM

Favouritism, nepotism and clientelism involve the favouring of
not the perpetrator of corruption but someone related to them,
such as a friend, family member or member of an association.
Examples would include hiring or promoting a family member or
staff member to a role they are not qualified for, who belongs to
the same political party as you, regardless of merit.
Some states do not forbid these forms of corruption.

CAUSES OF CORRUPTION
According to a 2017 survey study, the following factors have been
attributed as causes of corruption:23

 Greed of money, power, Luxury or any other materialistic desires.

 Higher levels of market and political monopolization
 Low levels of democracy, weak civil participation and low political
transparency
 Higher levels of bureaucracy and inefficient administrative structures
 Low press freedom
 Low economic freedom
 Large ethnic divisions and high levels of in-group favoritism
 Gender inequality
 Low degree of integration in the world economy
 Large government size
23
Dimant, Eugen; Tosato, Guglielmo (2017-01-01). "Causes and Effects of Corruption: What Has Past Decade's
Empirical Research Taught Us? a Survey". Journal of Economic Surveys. 32 (2): 335–
356. doi:10.1111/joes.12198. ISSN 1467-6419.
 Low levels of government decentralization
 Former French, Portuguese, Belgian or Spanish colonies have been
shown to have greater corruption than former British or Dutch
colonies
 Resource wealth
 Poverty
 Political instability
 Weak property rights
 Contagion from corrupt neighboring countries
 Low levels of education
 Low Internet access

PREVENTING CORRUPTION
R. Klitgaard postulates that corruption will occur if the corrupt gain is
greater than the penalty multiplied by the likelihood of being caught and
prosecuted:
Corrupt gain > Penalty × Likelihood of being caught and prosecuted
The degree of corruption will then be a function of the degree
of monopoly and discretion in deciding who should get how much on the
one hand and the degree to which this activity is accountable and
transparent on the other hand. Still, these equations (which should be
understood in a qualitative rather than a quantitative manner) seem to
be lacking one aspect: a high degree of monopoly and discretion
accompanied by a low degree of transparency does not automatically
lead to corruption without any moral weakness or insufficient integrity.
Also, low penalties in combination with a low probability of being caught
will only lead to corruption if people tend to neglect ethics and moral
commitment.

CONCLUSION
After doing these studies and compiling the information
about corruption one can found that Corruption has left none
field untouched by it whether it is a government sector,
private sector, education , religious sector or philosophical
sector. It is a high time to work for anti corruption measures
and schemes. Every citizen of society is bound to decrease
the level of corruption on his own level. If everyone tries to
kill this evil we will succeed in getting rid of the problems
caused by it.