Crime, fear and continuous traumatic stress in South Africa: What place social cohesion?

Abstract

International literature on crime and violence suggests that social cohesion may play a key role in facilitating prevention at community level. It is argued that in South Africa high levels of crime entailing interpersonal violation not only reflect ruptures in the social fabric but also contribute to social disorganization. In exploring the traumatic impact of exposure to fairly pervasive criminality via the constructs of Fear of Crime (FoC) and Continuous Traumatic Stress the article explores some of the linkages between responses to crime and the facilitation or erosion of potentialities for social cohesion. It is argued that the common responses of fearfulness, suspicion and social withdrawal (as well as defensive aggression in some instances) are counter-productive to attempts to build pro-social organization. Consequently a rather intractable circular relationship may ensue in which the conditions that enable criminality are not challenged because indirect and direct exposure to violation, alongside perceived and actual deficits in formal state interventions, have eroded the motivation and capacity of citizens to tackle such conditions, leaving spaces open for violation to continue unchecked, Some of the complexities of thinking about forms of social cohesion as a route to challenge crime and its impact in South Africa are elaborated. It is emphasized that collective efficacy appears to be the aspect of social cohesion that is most pivotal in addressing this feature of society.

Managing crisis and living in crisis: health & place, what separation? A holistic view of the community environment at Sherbourne and Dundas

“…Through one-on-one interviews with community members, this research helps to unearth and unmap some of the geography of this space through individual stories which reflect their lived(ing) experiences, situated stories over time in place. Anchoring community members' knowledge within these conflicted spaces through narrative inquiry transcends the need to have consensus-based, (Isaacs, 1993), often top-down epistemologies and shatters the comfort zones of thought which work to suffocate our understandings of the diversity of interpretations about the complexity of places we live and the impact that it has on us (Eagle, 2015;Williams-Goldhagen, 2017). This is an intentional strategy to engage neighbourhood residents in creating a pool of shared meaning to build agency and community self-determination.…”

“…Urbanization, densification, and the psychosocial impacts it has on place identity as well as the implications it has on health and wellbeing have been researched and discussed through the lenses of architectural philosophy, health literature, community psychology and enviro psychology (Bassett & Moore, 2013;Berado et al, 2018;Bissonnette et al, 2012;Dunn, 2002;Eagle, 2015;Hande, 2018;Rogers et al, 2008;Nation &Wandersman, 1998;Williams-Goldhagen, 2017).…”

“…They took strong positions in emphasizing the importance of safe, stable and inclusive environments and the need for a culture of order within community spaces (Eagle, 2018;Hughey, Perkins & Speer, 2009;Nation &Wandersman, 1998). Research regarding neighbourhood environments has continued to focus on and emphasize the correlating psychosocial impacts of the environment on individual health and the importance of building and securing spatial justice for greater social cohesion and wellbeing (Eagle, 2015). Within these discourses there is a recurring theme which speaks to people's perception of their environment, including perceptions of safety (Bissonnette et al, 2012;Eagle, 2015;Hande, 2018;Mitchell & Popham, 2008;Nation &Wandersman, 1998).…”

Strengthening the National Health Insurance Bill for mental health needs: response from the Psychological Society of South Africa

“…Poverty and constraints to social and economic development can erode psychological health and inhibit resilience needed to overcome these stressors (Swain et al, 2017). Continuous trauma experienced by citizens due to domestic and commercial theft, gender-based violence, murder, rape and other neighbourhood violence, and the mental strain due to state capture and increased economic vulnerability of our country requires inclusion of psychological interventions and skills to build a healthy, resilient socially cohesive national psyche (Eagle, 2015).…”

The Grief and Trauma Project: A Group Work Approach to Restoring Emotional and Spiritual Health to Women in Bereaved and Traumatised Indigent Communities in the Western Cape, South Africa

“…The literature pertaining to resource-poor communities in urban and rural settings focuses on cultural rituals and community support (Setsiba, 2012;Yawa, 2010;Radzilani, 2010). An assumption of availability of adequate resources to support the bereaved person as an individual fails to take into account the context of complicated grief on conjugal bereavement of women in rural, indigent and marginalised communities (Opperman & Novello, 2006;Somhlaba & Wait, 2008) and low-income communities characterised by violence, death and continuous stress (Eagle, 2015).…”