Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-11T08:43:46.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fear of crime and fear of falling : English anxieties approaching the millennium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Ian Taylor  and
Ruth Jamieson
Ian Taylor
Affiliation:
University of Salford, (Salford).
Ruth Jamieson
Affiliation:
Keele University, (Keele).
Get access

Abstract

This paper develops an analysis of the ways in which the issues of ‘unemployment’, ‘social order’ and ‘crime’ appeared to be dealt with, within the dominant culture of English society in the mid-1990s.

Revisnng the famous debate between Perry Anderson, Tom Nairn and Edward Thompson in the 1960s, the paper argues for an understanding of the specificity of the English ‘social formation’ and, in particular, the sensibilities of the dominant middle class of that country. Inspired in part by field work in the English suburb in which the authors currently reside, the paper applies this approach to the analysis of the deep anxieties that are routinely exhibited in such areas in the mid-1990s over crime—anxieties which are then separately examined along six discrete dimensions: a) the safety of self, b) the safety of home and employment position, c) personal status and the symbolic world, d) the loss of virtue, e) the fears for England, and f) the crisis of the inheritance. The paper concludes by arguing for an interpretation of the widespread fear of crime as a complex social metaphor, with a specific social/national provenance, invisible to the mass of contemporary empirical social scientists in England whose work is parasitical upon such fears.

L'article analyse la façon dont le «chômage», l'«ordre» et le « crime » ont été traités dans la culture dominante de la société anglaise au milieu des années 90. Reprenant les termes du début des années 60 entre Perry Anderson, Tom Nairn et Edward Thompson, c'est la spécificité de la fonction sociale anglaise qui est en question, et en particulier la sensibilité propre à la classe moyenne, majoritaire ou dominante dans le pays. Les auteurs sont marqués par le travail de terrain conduit dans les banlieues et l'anxiété enregistrée concernant le crime. Six dimensions d'analyse sont retenues : a) sécurité personnelle, b) sécurité du domicile et du travail, c) statut personnel et univers symbolique, d) la perte des valeurs, e) les peurs pour l'Angleterre, f) la crise de l'héritage historique. La conclusion est que la peur du crime est une métaphore sociale complexe qui échappe à la grande majorité de la recherche sociale empirique.

Der Aufsatz untersucht, auf welche Art und Weise die herrschende Kultur der englischen Gesellschaft der 9oer Jahre Arbeitslosigkeit, Gesellschaftssystem und Verbrechen behandelt. Basierend auf der Debatte zwischen Perry Anderson, Tom Nairn und Edward Thompson in den 196oer Jahren, fordert diese Abhandlung dazu auf, die für die englische Gesellschaft charakterisierende Entstehungsweise und ganz besonders die Empfindungen der Mittelklasse dieses Landes zu begreifen. Inspiriert durch Untersuchungen in englischen Vororten, in denen die Autoren wohnen, nutzt der Aufsatz diesen Ausgangspunkt für die Analyse tiefsitzender Ängste, die in der Mitte der 9oer Jahre in diesen Gegenden vor Verbrechen geäußert werden. Ängste, die anschließend seperat analysiert werden : a) eigene Sicherheit, b) die Sicherheit von Hab und Gut und des Arbeitsplatzes, c) persönliche Position und symbolische Welt, d) Verlust der Tugenden, e) Angst um England und f) Krise des historischen Erbes. Der Aufsatz macht eine weitverbreitete Angst vor Kriminalität als vielschichtige soziale Metapher fest, mit einer besonderen sozialen/nationalen Herkunft, die zeigenössischen empirischen Sozialwissenschaftlern in England fehlt und deren Arbeiten über solche Ängste hinwegsehen.

Type
Actualité Européenne
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , May 1998 , pp. 149 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Digby (ed.) (1992), The Loss of Virtue: moral confusion in Britain and America (Washington DC: The National Review/UK: Social Affairs Unit).Google Scholar
Anderson, Perry (1965), The Origins of the Present Crisis in Anderson, P. et al. (eds), Towards Socialism (London: Fontana Books [Originally published in New Left Review 23 (1964)]).Google Scholar
Baumgartner, M.P. (1988), The Moral Order of a Suburb (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Benson, Glenwyn and Lansley, Stewart (1987), Failing the Masses, Backing the Buck, New Statesman (11 09): 10–12.Google Scholar
Brenner, Harvey (1971a), Time Series Analysis of Relationships between Selected Economic and Social Indicators (Vol.I: Text and Appendices) (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office).Google Scholar
Brenner, Harvey (1971b), Economic Changes and Heart Disease Mortality, American Journal of Public Health 61:606–611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brenner, Harvey (1977) Health Costs and Benefits of Economic Policy, International Journal of Health Services 7: 581–623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brenner, Harvey (1978), Impact of Economic Indicators on Crime Indices, in Unemployment and Crime (hearing before the Subcommittee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives) 59th Congress, first and second sessions, serial no.47: 20–54.Google Scholar
Brenner, Harvey (1979a), Mortality and the National Economy: Commentary and Several Principles in Ferman, L.A. and Gordus, J.P. (eds), Mental Health and the Economy (Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research).Google Scholar
Brenner, Harvey (1979b), Mortality and the National Economy: a review of the experience of England and Wales 1936–1976, The Lancet (II): 568–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, P.J. and Hopkins, A.G. (1993), British Imperialism 1688–1914 (London: Longman).Google Scholar
Dennis, Norman and Erdos, George (1993), Families without Fatherhood (London: IEA Health and Welfare Unit).Google Scholar
De Swaan, Abram (1995), Widening Circles of Identification: Emotional Concerns in Socio-Genetic Perspective, Theory, Culture and Society 12 (2): 25–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowds, Lizanne and Mayhew, Pat (1994), Participation in Neighbourhood Watch: Findings from the 1992 British Crime Survey, Research Findings No. II (London: Home Office Research and Statistics Department).Google Scholar
Ehrenreich, Barbara (1989), Fear of Falling: the inner life of the middle class (New York: Pantheon).Google Scholar
Fyvel, T.R. (1961), The Insecure Offenders: Rebellious Youth in the Welfare State (London: Chatto and Windus).Google Scholar
Galbraith, J.K. (1992), The Culture of Contentment (Harmondsworth: Penguin).Google Scholar
Hay, D., Linbaugh, P., Thompson, E.P. (1975), Albion's Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth Century England (London: Allen Lane).Google Scholar
Hickox, M.S. (1995), The English middleclass debate, British Journal of Sociology 46 (2): 311–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillman, M., Adams, J. and Whitelegg, J. (1990), One False Move: a study of children's independent mobility (London: Policy Studies Institute).Google Scholar
Hochschild, Arlie (1989), The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home (London: Piatkus).Google Scholar
Hutton, Will (1995), The State We're In (London: Jonathan Cape).Google Scholar
Lash, Scott and Urry, John (1987), The End of Organized Capitalism (Cambridge: Polity Press).Google Scholar
Lash, Scott and Urry, John (1994), Economies of Signs and Space (London: Sage).Google Scholar
Mirrlees-Black, C. and Maung, N.A. (1994), Fear of Crime: Findings from the 1992 British Crime Survey, Research Findings No.9 (London: Home Office Research and Statistics Department).Google Scholar
Morris, T.P. (1976), Deviance and Control: the Secular Heresy (London: Hutchinson).Google Scholar
Morris, T.P. (1989), Crime and Criminal Justice since 1945 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).Google Scholar
Mosca, G. (1939), The Ruling Class (ed.) Livingston, A. (London: Methuen).Google Scholar
Nairn, Tom (1964a), The English Working Class, New Left Review 24 (03-April): 43–57.Google Scholar
Nairn, Tom (1964b), The British Political Elite, New Left Review 23.Google Scholar
Nairn, Tom (1965a), The Anatomy of the Labour Party-I, New Left Review 27.Google Scholar
Nairn, Tom (1965b), The Anatomy of the Labour Party-II, New Left Review 28.Google Scholar
Phillips, Anne (1993), Engendering Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press).Google Scholar
Reich, Robert (1993), The Work of Nations; preparing ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf).Google Scholar
Richards, Barry (1994), Disciplines of Delight: the psychoanalysis of popular culture (London: Free Association Books).Google Scholar
Stanko, Betsy (1985), Intimate Intrusions: Women's Experience of Male Violence (London: Virago).Google Scholar
Stanko, Betsy (1990), When Precaution is Normal: a feminist critique of crime prevention in Gelsthorpe, Loraine and Morris, Allison (eds), Feminist Perspectives in Criminology (Milton Keynes: Open University Press).Google Scholar
Taylor, Ian (1992), Left Realist Criminology and the Free Market Experiment in Britain, in Young, Jock and Matthews, Roger (eds), Rethinking Criminology: the realist debate (London: Sage).Google Scholar
Taylor, Ian (1995a), Private Homes and Public Others: an analysis of talk about crime in suburban South Manchester in the mid-1990s, British Journal of Criminology 35 (2) (Spring): 263–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Ian (1995b), Critical Criminology and the Free Market; some theoretical and practical issues in everyday social life and everyday crime in Levi, Mike, Maguire, Mike and Noakes, Lesley (eds), Contemporary Developments in Criminology (Cardiff: University of Wales Press).Google Scholar
Taylor, Ian (1996), Fear of Crime, Urban Fortunes and Contemporary Social Movements, Sociology 30(2): 317–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Ian (1997), Justice, Social Anxiety and Place, Theoretical Criminology 1(1) (02): 53–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Ian and Jamieson, Ruth (1983), Young People's Responses to the Job Crisis in Canada: a framework for theoretical work and empirical research (Ottawa: Statistics Canada Internal Report) (Mimeo).Google Scholar
Taylor, Ian, Evans, Karens and Fraser, Penny (1996), A Tale of Two Cities: Global Change, Local Feeling and Everyday Life in the North of England: a study in Manchester and Sheffield (London: Routledge [International Library of Sociology]).Google Scholar
Thompson, E.P. (1963), The Making of the English Working Class (London: Penguin).Google Scholar
Thompson, E.P. (1965), The Peculiarities of the English, in Miliband, R. and Savile, J. (eds), The Socialist Register 1965 (London: Merlin Press).Google Scholar
Thompson, E.P. (1975), Whigs and Hunters: the origins of the Black Act (London: Allen Lane).Google Scholar
Weber, Max (1978), Economy and Society, Roth, G. and Wittich, G. (eds) (Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press).Google Scholar
Williams, Karel et al. Weiner, Martin (1991), English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Williams, Karel (1996), Sinking Ships? Unpublished paper, working group, University of Manchester, Faculty of Economic and Social Studies.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. (1975), Thinking about Crime (New York: Basic Books).Google Scholar
Zimring, Franklin and Hawkins, Gordon (1997), Crime is not the Problem: lethal violence in America (New York: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar