On Social Equality and Perceptions of Insecurity

• Published in: European Journal of Criminology
• Main Author: Kristjánsson, Álfgeir Logi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2007
• Subjects: Law; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1477370807071730; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1477370807071730

This study compares perceptions of insecurity and fear of crime in Scotland and Iceland and shows how these perceptions are related to social factors in the two countries. Independent samples t-tests and stepwise multiple linear regression models are used to analyse comparable data from surveys in the two countries. Scots report feeling significantly less safe than do Icelanders. The regression models show that social integration and smaller differences between households and neighbourhoods in terms of income and class are associated with greater perceptions of insecurity. The analysis therefore suggests that perceptions of insecurity are higher in Scotland than in Iceland because Iceland's population is more homogeneous, with stronger social integration, less pronounced class and income differentials, and less polarization between neighbourhoods. The wider implications for understanding perceptions of insecurity at different levels of analysis (macro and meso) are discussed.