Deviance exists at all socioeconomic levels. Typically, property crimes correlate more often with the lower class, and white-collar and corporate crime is more characteristic of the middle and upper classes. White-collar crime refers to the violation of law by individuals of high social position as part of their day-to-day professional activities. Typical types of white-collar crime include insider trading and financial fraud and also can include an attorney who deliberately overbills clients or doctors ordering unnecessary tests for fees. The most popular examples in the media focus on the illegal activities of corporate executives who defraud their own companies, the public, and often the government. Enron's top executives provided an extreme example in which fraudulent activities led to the ultimate collapse of one of the largest U.S. corporations.

Corporate crime differs from white-collar crime in that the corporation as an institution engages in deliberate violations of law. Victims of such crime include consumers, government, and employees. Common examples of corporate crime include environmental pollution through inappropriate disposal of waste, the sale of products known to be unsafe, and various forms of financial fraud. In extreme cases corporations have even violated international laws governing national sovereignty to protect their financial interests when threatened. For example, International Telephone & Telegraph in the 1970s collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency to overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile. It then installed Augusto Pinochet, one of Latin America's most brutal dictators.

Both white-collar and corporate crime is committed primarily for financial gain. What distinguishes these types of deviance from others is that the perpetrators often do not see themselves as committing crimes. Rather, they see themselves as industry innovators persecuted for their business success. Ex-Enron chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling, convicted of fraud and insider trading, consistently characterized his activities as innovative rather than illegal.

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