Sociology / Unit 5 Soc 0675 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Crime
Captions available
The idea
Crime is deviance that violates a formally enacted law, making it subject to official sanction by the state rather than only to social reaction.
In practice
Rudeness is deviant and lawful; theft is deviant and unlawful. Only the second summons the state.
Where people slip
Crime and deviance overlap but neither contains the other: most deviance is not crime, and some crimes violate no norm anyone enforces.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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