In Defense of Law and Order: Urban Space,Fear of Crime,and the Virtues of Social Control

Abstract

There is a long tradition in critical/cultural studies that views the raising of concerns about crime and disorder as an ideological gambit concealing a more sinister project of social control. This article offers a friendly critique and revision of this position, arguing that critical communication scholars should treat urban disorder and public fears of crime as serious policy problems, if only because pervasive fears of crime impose great harm on disadvantaged urban residents. To this end, this article reviews recent work in the fear-of-crime literature to examine both the causes of fear as well as the efficacy and ethics of specific fear-reduction strategies. Drawing on this review, the article argues that the most promising response to the fear of crime is not zero tolerance policing, but rather increasing the collective efficacy of—that is, the feeling of solidarity among—neighbors. The article concludes with a discussion of the role digital networking tools could play in building neighborhood collective efficacy.

Keywords

critical/cultural studies locality study of place Internet research community

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