Sticky Fingers, Male and Female

This article discusses the differences between men and women when it comes to shoplifting. It surprised me slightly to learn that men steal more than women on average. The article used lots of statistics and facts. However, I don't think the article was really trying to accomplish a specific point. Well, they definitely wanted to disprove the stereotypical idea that women are the biggest shoplifters. However, that was not difficult to accomplish. I think saying "a large study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry in 2008 found that men shoplifted more than women" pretty much established that fact, without leaving much room for argument. Beyond that, I think the article was mostly informative and speculative. It discussed the differences between men and women: what they steal, how they feel about it, etc. However, the lingering question seemed to be "why do people shoplift, and how can it be prevented?" I have to agree with the author of the article on this one- maybe it's more poetic than scientific. I'm sure people steal for all sorts of psychological reasons, but I think there are still people who steal just for fun, to save money, etc. I don't think it's really a problem that can be "solved," except, perhaps, with better security in stores. Or maybe if major religions started putting more emphasis on how stealing is a sin. But I don't think psychologists are ever going to be able to fix it.

article: http://www.salon.com/2011/10/20/can_the_gop_be_embarrassed_on_jobs/