A new phenomenon has arisen in American public life. From Ivan Boesky to Ollie North, from defrocked television evangelists to Wedtech profiteers, the public has lately been introduced to a different breed of lawbreaker. These are no ordinary white collar criminals; these are successful, welleducated men at the very top of their professions and they break the law casually, even self-righteously, as if the only sin lay in being incautious enough to get caught. The public's lack of shock is no less noteworthy-there is interest, but no outrage, as if this were expectable behavior.The deeper significance of this is explored in terms of the institutionalization of social distress. A theoretical model is presented in order to discuss this problem.