EFICACIA COLECTIVA, CULTURA CIUDADANA Y VICTIMIZACIÓN : UN ANÁLISIS EXPLORATORIO SOBRE SUS RELACIONES CON DIVERSAS MEDIDAS DEL MIEDO AL CRIMEN

• Main Author: Ruiz Pérez, José Ignacio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Católica de Colombia 2010-06-01
• Series: Acta Colombiana de Psicología
• Subjects: fear of crime; neighborhood; city; collective efficacy; civic culture
• Online Access: http://portalweb.ucatolica.edu.co/easyWeb2/files/23_4114_v13n1-art9.pdf

The aim of this paper was to study the relationships between collective efficacy and civic culture; and between these social processes and several measurements of fear of crime such as fear of being the victim of any crime and fear of victimization at home. Participants were a non-randomized sample of Bogota's citizens. The role of gender, age and socioeconomic status was taken into account for the analysis. Results showed a high and direct correlation between collective efficacy and civic culture, but only one dimension of collective efficacy was associated with lower levels of fear of crime. Generally, fear was lower in socio-geographic environments where people have a more direct and prolonged contact: home and neighborhood. Also, in a ranks' comparison analysis, crime victimization was associated with fear of crime in general, but not with fear of victimization at home. Briefly, fear of crime can be explained by perceived risk and by other fears related to socio-geographic dimensions: neighborhood, locality and city