Abstract

RUIZ PEREZ, JOSÉ IGNACIO. COLLECTIVE EFFICACY, CIVIC CULTURE AND VICTIMIZATION: AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS ON THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS OF FEAR OF CRIME. Act.Colom.Psicol. [online]. 2010, vol.13, n.1, pp.103-114. ISSN 0123-9155.

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.

Keywords : fear of crime; neighborhood; city; collective efficacy; civic culture.

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