Is Shoplifting any different to any other kind of Theft? This one one of the questions that was asked at the second 'Being Bad' subject based lectures. Many students expressed the view that shoplifting is different from other kinds of theft. The reasons given included that shoplifting does not hurt anyone and that the shoplifter is stealing from a company that can afford it. Bullshit!What about when the employee has to pay for missing stock out of their wages? What about the fact that reduced profits for the company might result in people loosing their jobs and all the stress that the dismissed person will suffer? What about when an employee gets in trouble (e.g. gets a warning at work) because of missing stock or even worse what if the employee gets the blame for the missing stock and therefore the employee is accused of the shoplifting. Shoplifting is theft. Perhaps the more appropriate question to ask is why has the person committed shoplifting.
The other factor that surprised me was how many students admitted to shoplifting and did not consider it as bad. Perhaps from a philosophical point of view people want to think of themselves as good and so even when doing bad things excuses are given to give less of a bad meaning to the act that has been commited and hence the bad action of shoplifting is justified by shoplifters saying things like "I am not actually hurting anyone. It's just a company."
Why do people who can afford to buy things shoplift? This was the second question that was asked at the lecture. Reasons given by the students included Attention seekers, the rush of committing shoplifting, fulfilling an empty life, committing shoplifting due to illness, and because the shoplifter can get away with it. Some of these answers do not take account of factors such as the social stigma of being caught and the stress of being prosecuted.
Some final thoughts on shoplifting is that the reasons behind the shoplifting should be looked at when deciding whether the act that has been committed is bad. After all is a person who has shoplifted food for their children because they have no money left a bad person compared to someone who shoplifts to show off infront of their friends?
The following link gives an interesting perspective on shoplifting:-
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