Disorder Leads to Fear, but Where does Fear Lead? Assessing Behavioral Changes associated with Disorder

• In Event: Crime and Place: Examining the Formation and Impact of Disorder Perceptions

Abstract

A key component of the Broken Windows and incivilities theses is that disorder will increase fear in neighborhood residents, which in turn causes residents to alter their behavior. That is, disorder leads people to engage in avoidance behaviors, whereby they try to avoid the disorderly conditions that made them fearful in the first place. As residents withdraw from the community, crime increases as social control deteriorates and potential criminals perceive the neighborhood as one in which they can work with relative impunity. However, there is the potential that increased levels of fear may lead people to engage in prosocial behaviors (e.g., participating in community organizations, looking out for neighbors’ properties, etc.) in order to address disorderly conditions and thusly reduce fear. To assess potential behavioral responses to fear, we use a unique survey of Hillsborough County, FL residents and examine the impact of perceived social and physical disorder on fear and whether this fear consequently leads to withdrawal as theorized by Wilson and Kelling (1982) or prosocial involvement as theorized by Durkheim (1933).

Authors

• Lyndsay N. Boggess, University of South Florida

• Jon Maskaly, University of Illinois at Chicago