Hope, TJ and Trickett, A 2004, 'Angst Essen Seele auf…but it keeps away the burglars! Private security, Neighbourhood Watch and the social reaction to crime ' , Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 43 , pp. 441-468.

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Abstract

This paper explores the micro-level consequences for citizens’ private security of the crime governance strategy of ‘responsibilisation’. Specifically, it analyses data from the British Crime Survey and the UK Census to identify the correlates of the availability of Neighbourhood Watch (NW) schemes and of individual household participation in them. In general, it finds a strong social class bias affecting both availability and membership. In addition, membership is found to depend upon the mutually-incompatible processes of anxiety about crime risk and community reciprocity. Further, a comparison of the correlates of property crime victimisation and NW availability reveals a bias towards the protection of households at risk only amongst the more affluent sectors of society. An explanation is proposed based upon the idea that middle-income members of society are more able than other social groups to create security ‘club goods’ for themselves, of which NW is seen as a prime example.

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