Justifying the unjust: a neutralization theory and McDonaldization analysis of self-checkout theft

Abstract

Self-checkout theft materializes as a byproduct of hyper-rationalized retail spaces that erode consumer interactions and normative moral constraints. By drawing on techniques of neutralization and the McDonaldization thesis, I reframe deviance as a response to neoliberal regimes. Rather than discrete mental processes, neutralizations are adaptive strategies structured by institutional principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. As automated systems replace human oversight, moral disengagement advances to the foreground, facilitating justifications that render theft as morally ambivalent.