Punitive Populism and Citizen Perceptions of Crime in Chile

• In Event: 40420 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Neoliberal Politics 1

Abstract

Scholars observe the growth of tough on crime policies in the U.S. and Europe since the 1970s, exploring these policies’ origins, popularity among voters, and harsh consequences for incarcerated individuals (Western and Beckett 1999; Pager 2006; Pager et al. 2009; Contreras 2013; Hill 2016). Some argue that these policies result from the social anxieties citizens experience in late modernity (Garland 2001), while others argue that they are part and parcel of neoliberal policies designed by political and economic elites (Wacquant 2010). While researchers explore the rising popularity of such policies in Latin America, the region with the highest indices of violence outside the context of wars (Feldmann and Luna 2022; Vilalta 2020; Cutrona et al. 2024; Dammert 2023; Chouhy et al. 2022; Sozzo 2018; Bonner 2019), few studies explore citizens’ perceptions of crime and safety and how these views may fuel “punitive populism” (for exceptions, see Dammert 2012; Luneke et al. 2021). This paper explores these perceptions based on 44 qualitative interviews with 48 adults and nine ethnographic observations of municipal campaign activities in three Santiago, Chile metro area municipalities: Maipú, Santiago, and La Florida. I extend analyses that find that experiences of fear vary across class and age groups by showing how political identities and events influence perceptions of crime. Issues of safety and security, which have been central to public officials’ punitive populist appeals, play a pivotal role in middle class citizens’ attitudes across the political spectrum, though they take on different characteristics for distinct demographic and partisan subgroups. Further, security has become a filter through which individuals process anxieties regarding immigration, Chile’s 2019 social uprising, and current political dynamics. “Fear wins elections” (Dammert 2012), but perceptions of crime also reflect citizens’ partisan sympathies and responses to salient political events, with important implications for policy outcomes.

Author

• Joel P. Stillerman, Grand Valley State University