Fear of crime and authoritarianism: a comparison of rural and urban attitudes: A comparison of rural and urban attitudes

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Abstract

The notion of ‘fear of crime’ forms the basis of some critical discussions in criminology; however, the concept appears to show little in the way of consistency over time, location, victimisation, crime level and/or individual differences. This article reports the findings of a preliminary study designed to test the applicability of authoritarian theory to understanding the concept of fear of crime. With [normative] fear being a prominent component in authoritarian research and also featuring in contemporary criminological literature, it was hypothesised that there would be a relationship between authoritarian attitudes/predispositions and fear of crime. In accordance with the literature, it was hypothesised that fear of crime would represent itself differently according to the social environment in which it is experienced. Results indicated that more authoritarian residents from a rural area were concerned about offenders travelling into their community to offend, whereas there were no differences among urban dwellers. The findings are discussed in the context of the strong in-group/out-group bias of the authoritarian.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)134-150
Number of pages16
JournalCrime Prevention and Community Safety
Volume15
Issue number2
Early online date08 Apr 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 May 2013

Keywords

  • fear of crime
  • authoritarian personality
  • rural crime
  • threat

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  • Rural/Farm Crime

    W. (Researcher), , G. (Researcher) & (Researcher)

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