La metamorfosi dell'ordine pubblico: il concetto di sicurezza urbana

The purpose of this contribution is to suggest a sociological and juridical redefinition of usury with a different interpretative point of view in the analysis of this phenomenon from the traditional scheme based on the lending of money to “usurious” interests, to a new and diverse juridical category. This interpretative effort finds grounds in the awareness of the fact that usury as it has been defined by the law is sensible, even permeable to social change. The author advances the hypothesis that usury is not only a microeconomics, but also a shady side of the normal course of business and entrepreneurship. Usury is not only a service that the illegal city offers to the legal city (as in the case for prostitution or drug dealing) but as an offering that some sectors the city’s legal illegal put at the disposal of their victims