Introduction: Risk, insecurity and the politics of law and order

Tim Hope*, Richard Sparks

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract

The risks that crime poses to the security and well-being of citizens, and responses to crime-risk by states, firms, individuals and social movements, are among the most salient and contentious topics in the cultural and political life of late modern societies. ‘Crime’ connotes, inter alia, harm, violation and loss; menace, mistrust and fear; blame, punishment, exclusion and censure. (It should at the same time not be forgotten that ‘it’ may signify inter alia excitement, thrill, escape, bravery, self-assertion, aspiration, opportunity and membership.) As Giddens notes in another but not altogether unrelated context, what is ‘out there’ in the form of the changing landscape of risks is also ‘in here’ in the shape of our inventories of worries, anxieties, resentments and defences. Like the practices in which we engage to insulate ourselves from it, or to secure ourselves against loss and harm, crime is necessarily both materiality and meaning.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCrime, Risk and Insecurity
Subtitle of host publicationLaw and Order in Everyday Life and Political Discourse
EditorsTim Hope, Richard Sparks
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherRoutledge
Pages1-10
Number of pages10
Edition1st
ISBN (Electronic)9780203389492
ISBN (Print)9780415243438, 9780415243445
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Nov 2000

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