Cities bred specialized thieves and con men, not just honest commerce
Evidence
In the cities were the slaves and the freemen, women of “respectability” and their more adventurous sisters. In the cities (as we shall later see), the con man and the specialized thief came to maturity. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 230
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
Related
- Preindustrial cities branded criminals so their status remained publicly legible (similarity 0.82)
- Preindustrial cities were overtly and visibly socially heterogeneous (similarity 0.81)
- Preindustrial cities mixed extreme social strata and occupations openly (similarity 0.81)
- Historic cities permanently marked criminals through bodily branding to advertise moral difference (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Historic cities permanently marked criminals through bodily branding to advertise moral difference
#expands(0.55) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 247