Saints and Sinners
This chapter draws upon qualitative and quantitative data to assess the extent of both victimization and offending in the market place. It examines what consumers did when they found they had been cheated, and discusses the extent to which there is an overlap between being a victim and offender. The chapter paints a detailed picture of victimization, offending, and the degree to which these are related. Findings show that some types of victimization are very common in all three regions, like e.g. unnecessary repairs, while considerable differences exist between them in terms of being offered too little by one’s insurer (most common in West Germany), or being sold faulty second-hand goods (most common in England and Wales). Differences in offending are by far more distinct, with the West Germans outdoing their East Germans and English and Welsh counterparts. For both victimization and offending trajectories of mostly ‘slow-burning change’ were detected for all three regions. Middle-class consumers do not differ from disadvantaged social groups with regard to the relation between victimization and offending: the findings suggest as strong a relationship between victimization and offending, similar to what is usually found for violent offenders and their victimization in marginalized neighbourhoods.