‘Old age’ and Ageism in Urban Research: The Case of Fear of Crime

Abstract

A critique has recently been made of research and theory on ageing in spatial research, arguing for the development of approaches which are informed by critical theoretical perspectives. Perhaps the most significant of these is the recognition that ‘old age’ is culturally constructed. This paper illustrates the value of such an approach with reference to understanding of fear of crime. It is suggested that many difficulties with past research result from epistemological problems, including ageism. A number of assumptions about elderly people and crime can be contested if scrutiny is informed by humanistic, feminist and social constructionist perspectives. Drawing on in depth interviews with elderly people, some of the problems and prospects of work on old age are discussed. Age is only one dimension by which people situate themselves and are situated by others in relation to the risk of crime. Local contexts, life course experiences and other social identities are involved in the constitution of fear for each individual. While the role of ageing can be understood within a framework of power relations, its positive as well as negative impacts on reactions to crime require representation. Similar analysis could profitably be developed in other areas of urban research.

The Feeling of Insecurity Among the Elderly: Between Environmental Changes and Individual Fragility

“…Par exemple, nous avons montré que celui-ci se déclinait différemment dans l'espace privé ou l'espace public, pendant le jour ou la nuit. Pain (1997) met en avant l'importance de prendre en compte dans la compréhension du sentiment d'insécurité les catégories d'âge, celles de genre, de classes sociales, de la saison et de la catégorie des potentiels handicaps. Si ce n'était pas l'emphase dans notre étude, puisqu'elle se centrait uniquement sur les personnes âgées, nous avons montré le rôle important que jouent les processus de fragilisation et de vulnérabilisation rappelant ainsi l'importance de toujours contextualiser le propos.…”

“…En parallèle à ce constat, qui rejoint les résultats d'autres enquêtes quantitatives au niveau international (Ferraro 1995 ;Pain 1997 ;Hayman 2011 ;Le Goff 2011), nous avons mené une étude qualitative auprès des aînés du canton, visant à mieux comprendre comment ils ressentent les risques et comment ils y font face. En bref, ces résultats relativisent le constat du Diagnostic local de sécurité 2013 (Police cantonale de Genève 2014) : le sentiment de sécurité prévaut dans l'espace privé et les risques de l'espace public sont apprivoisés à travers la mise en place de diverses stratégies.…”

“…En se fondant sur ces constats, plusieurs auteurs soulignent la nécessité d'aller au-delà de l'image réductrice de personnes âgées paralysées par leur sentiment d'insé-curité et victimes d'un environnement hostile (Ferraro 1995 ;Pain 1997 ;Tulloch 2000). C'est ce que nous souhaitons faire ici en appréhendant le sentiment d'insé-curité à partir des pratiques concrètes et des représentations des aînés eux-mêmes, en articulant celles-ci à leur contexte de vie.…”

Older Women's Fears of Violence: The Need for Interventions That Enable Active Ageing

“…Widowhood, the loss of car transport and safe mobility (Gilleard and Higgs, 2005) may make women fearful when venturing out in public (Pain, 1997). Owning and driving a car ensures independence and avoids risks, as the following extract encapsulates:…”

Community-Oriented Policing and Technological Innovations

“…Skogan and Maxfield 1981;Gibson et al 2002;Brunton-Smith and Sturgis 2011). The widely used cross-sectional approach has restricted the opportunities for examining variations in individual-level fear of crime over time and space, despite the fact that researchers have argued that fear of crime should be studied as a dynamic rather than a static experience (Hale 1996;Pain 1997Pain , 2000. Second, and in line with research on offending (Wikström et al 2012), we would argue that fear of crime is dependent on individual attributes and experiences in interaction with environmental factors.…”