Law-and-Order Politics on Public Perceptions of Safety in Australia and the US

• In Event: Fear of Crime and National Politics

Abstract

Comparing Wave 6 (2011-2012) and Wave 7 (2017-2018) of the World Value Survey (WVS) data collected in Australia and the US, the current study seeks to quantitatively investigate how public perceptions of safety, and its associated predictors, evolve over time. In particular, this study focuses on exploring whether and to what extent public perceptions of safety had become more divided along demographic, socioeconomic, and political lines between Wave 6 and Wave 7 of the WVS in Australia and the US. The comparative analysis found that law-and-order politics, neighbourhood contexts, as well as society-level social cohesion differently shaped public perceptions of safety in these two similarly situated countries during this pivotal time of political polarisation in the 2010s.

Authors

• Kai Lin, University of Technology Sydney

• Chloe Keel, Griffith University

• Rebecca Wickes, Griffith University