Fear in progress? Correlates of feeling (un)safe in an urban population in Gauteng, South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22110792 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pedzisai Ndagurwa (0000-0001-5628-4901, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author), Shamsunisaa Miles-Timotheus (0000-0003-1875-2465, University of the Witwatersrand) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cogent Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2331-1886 • E-ISSN: 2331-1886 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23311886.2025.2574400 |
| OpenAlex | W4415336388 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Historically, most people have lived in fear in South Africa. Fear of the state, other social groups and crime characterised the pre-1994 South African landscape. Twenty-five years into democracy, oppressive government policies with legislated violence have been eradicated, and crime rates have halved compared to the 1990–1994 period. However, many people continue to live in fear. This study investigated the correlates of feeling (un)safe, focusing on the Gauteng province of South Africa. Feeling (un)safe was operationalised as a fear index constructed from four items (feeling safe at home, in the street during the day, during the night, and satisfaction with government-provided security services using principal component analysis (PCA). The study employed descriptive and multivariable random-effects linear regression techniques to analyse data from 15,502 respondents interviewed in Quality of Life (QoL) Survey 6 (2020/21). The results showed that living in a low-income neighbourhood, being female, having no education, being in a nonmarital relationship, being single, and living in an area with at least one defined major socioeconomic problem were associated with a significant increase in the fear index. The study concludes that addressing the main sources of fear is essential to achieving feelings of safety in Gauteng and South Africa at large
Fear of crime · Feeling · Poison control · Population · Rural area · Socioeconomic status · Suicide prevention · Community Health and Development · HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses · Homelessness and Social Issues
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Impacts of Crime on Socio-Economic Development
“Perception bias”
Crime News Consumption and Fear of Violence
Changing Space, Changing City
Machiavelli in precolonial Southern Africa
An Analysis of Large-Scale Forced Migration in Africa
Dangerous, frightening, homely
We live in fear, we feel very unsafe’
Postcolonial Criticism and Representations of African Dictatorship
What Do We Know About the Effects of Crime on Victims
AI-powered public surveillance systems
Decomposing the Effect of Crime on Population Changes
Local inequality and crime
Coerced migration
Media Consumption, Perceptions of Crime Risk and Fear of Crime
Resilient or Resigned? Criminal Victimisation and Quality of Life in South Africa
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |