Angst Essen Seele auf…but it keeps away the burglars! Private security, Neighbourhood Watch and the social reaction to crime

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.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Subjects / Themes > H Social Sciences Subjects / Themes > H Social Sciences > HM Sociology Subjects / Themes > H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare Subjects outside of the University Themes
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy
Journal or Publication Title:	Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie
Publisher:	VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	ISSN 0023-2653
Depositing User:	Prof Tim Hope
Date Deposited:	14 Apr 2011 13:48
Last Modified:	09 Aug 2018 04:20
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/14641

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