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Political Generations and the Fear of Crime

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Exploring Political Legacies

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Abstract

The fear of crime has occupied a substantial research agenda in criminology; this extends to include theories of why people fear crime. In this exemplar, we explore how political leadership influences the fear of crime (including perceptions of antisocial behaviour). The ‘age, period and cohort’ (APC) approach we adopt recognises the distinct temporal processes of all of the following: individual ageing, current context(s) and generational membership. Following Mannheim (Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge, Karl Mannheim. London: Routledge, 1928), we see this as crucial to understanding the origins and shape of social change. Employing repeated cross-sectional data from the British Crime Survey, we explore how worry about crime and perceptions of antisocial behaviour are shaped by the political environment in which respondents grew up. This exemplar shows how a political legacy may instil itself in the values which individuals hold throughout their lives.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    First conducted in 1982, the BCS moved to an annual collection from 2001. As well as collecting information on victimization and fear of crime, it includes attitudinal data and demographic information. The survey sampling is structured to be representative of two groups, namely residential households in England & Wales, and adults (aged 16 years and over) living in those households. The survey does not collect information from those living in alternative accommodation. The BCS sample size has increased from 11,000 in 1982 to over 47,000 in 2005/2006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Derby, Derby, UK

    Stephen Farrall

  2. Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Colin Hay

  3. Department of Criminology, University of Derby, Derby, UK

    Emily Gray

Authors
  1. Stephen Farrall
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  2. Colin Hay
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  3. Emily Gray
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Correspondence to Stephen Farrall .

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Farrall, S., Hay, C., Gray, E. (2020). Political Generations and the Fear of Crime. In: Exploring Political Legacies. Building a Sustainable Political Economy: SPERI Research & Policy. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37006-0_2

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