Organized crime as a social system: Characteristics and trends

In this article organized crime and organized criminal groups are considered as purposeful social systems with certain parameters. The articleʼs objective is to give a general description and determine the most typical trends in their activities. The actors of organized crime (criminal groups) in this paper are understood as stable hierarchical associations of several persons created in order to obtain personal and general profit illegally, while for managers of different levels this type of activity is the main form of employment. Organized crime is understood as the totality of criminal groups interacting among themselves, having a similar worldview, goals, tool, and ways to achieve them. Being part of the social system and self-compensating at the expense of members of society, organized crime is in a certain environment. The «environment» means a society as a whole, a set of individuals, social groups and actors of influence who have the ability to come into contact with each other directly or indirectly, exercising mutual influence. The actors of influence include: the state (government), interstate and international organizations, the church, corporations, the media, non-government public organizations. The features of organized crime are: 1) conspiracy, strict rules, hierarchical structure, which limits the behavior of individuals who form this system; 2) the lack of the concept of «ideal» in the category of results, whereupon strategic planning is not typical for it; 3) the worldview is focused on the seizure and forced exploitation of resources, technologies and non-entities and systems, violence, separation and opposition are supported; 4) the interaction of individuals within the system has the character of opposition and rivalry, a high probability of the emergence of an internal underground; 5) interaction with other main actors of influence is in the nature of opposition and rivalry; 6) the desire to discredit the government and create conflicts between governments and organizations or within them