Globally Connected but Interpersonally Unsafe? The Impacts of Personal Contacts, Information Flows, and Cultural Proximity on Cross-National Homicide Rates

• In Event: Culture, Psychology, and Crime: Cross-National Behavioral Comparisons

Abstract

The study of the relationship between globalization and national homicide rates is a robust area of inquiry in cross-national criminology. Substantial scholarship has been paid to study how economic and political factors/conditions affect the relationship pattern. In advancing the literature, this study pursues dual objectives in examining how homicide rates of nation-states are related to social dimensions of globalization – an area much is not known about. First, it uses threshold analysis to assess the potential tipping point those dimensions (measured as personal contacts, information flows, and cultural proximity) need to reach before influencing homicide rates in over a hundred countries between 1990 and 2020. Second, it examines the impacts of those dimensions on homicide rates using quantile regression method. By incorporating data from several sources, mainly the World Health Organization Mortality Database, KOF Globalization Index, and World Development Indicators, analysis reveals findings that provide mixed support for competing arguments on globalization – the civilizing, modernization, and conflict perspectives. Indicators of cultural proximity, such as gender equality, human capital, and trade in personal and cultural goods, appear to affect the relationship significantly. However, avenues for future research and theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Author

• Ali Shodunke, The Pennsylvania State University, United State of America