Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: In the study of fear of crime, perception of safety with respect to the risk of victimization is often viewed as the mere consequence of the absence of perceived risk. This paper takes the opposite view: that it is a complex phenomenon resting on a plurality of interpretative registers. Analysis of some thirty interviews of students at a French university shows three different ways of perceiving safety (fragility, self-confidence and tranquility), each rests on a specific relationship to oneself and toward supposed aggressors. Having shown this, we then look at how these interpretations emerge and evolve over time. Interpretations are by no means attached to individuals, rather, they fluctuate with the situations encountered and with past experiences, whence the importance of bringing out the two dimensions – synchronic and diachronic – of this phenomenon.
Source: Deviant Behavior
Author: Julien Noble
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4380487100