The Emergence, Establishment och Expansion of Fear of Crime Research in Sweden
(2021) In Lund Dissertations in Sociology 1(125).- Abstract
- The purpose of this dissertation is to construct an historical account of the emergence, establishment, and expansion of fear of crime research in Sweden. This dissertation aims to answer questions about the function, spread, and high level of institutional engagement of fear of crime research by analyzing the literature and examining the methodological, theoretical, and epistemological origins of fear of crime research itself. What happened when fear of crime was translated as "otrygghet", a word with a previously established meaning in Swedish? The analysis on the emergence of fear of crime in Sweden is based on documents, a survey of Swedish municipalities, and key informant interviews. The question of conceptual change is addressed... (More)
- The purpose of this dissertation is to construct an historical account of the emergence, establishment, and expansion of fear of crime research in Sweden. This dissertation aims to answer questions about the function, spread, and high level of institutional engagement of fear of crime research by analyzing the literature and examining the methodological, theoretical, and epistemological origins of fear of crime research itself. What happened when fear of crime was translated as "otrygghet", a word with a previously established meaning in Swedish? The analysis on the emergence of fear of crime in Sweden is based on documents, a survey of Swedish municipalities, and key informant interviews. The question of conceptual change is addressed through comparing how "otrygghet" is used by Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna in motions and bills from the Swedish Riksdag across five time periods: 1978, 1988, 1998, 2008 and 2018. The dissertation is theoretically inspired by a Foucauldian interest in the intersection of power and knowledge and by an interest in historicizing the sociological and criminological development that this thesis depicts, using the work of Stuart Hall. The analysis of conceptual change is inspired by the conceptual historian Reinhart Koselleck. The results show a rapid and striking expansion of fear of crime measurements during the 2000s. From 2003 to 2007, the number of national surveys containing fear of crime indicators grew from one to six, to include The Survey of Living Conditions that premiered in 1978, the Local Youth Politics Survey in 2003, The National Public Health survey in 2004, The Citizen Survey in 2005, The Swedish Crime Survey in 2006, and The Swedish Contingencies Agency Survey in 2007. For the municipalities, the period with the most dramatic increase in fear of crime measurements happens in the 2010’s, The percentage of municipalities that don’t do fear of crime surveys decreases from 98 percent before 1995, to 94 percent in 1995–1999, 74 percent in 2000–2004, 51 percent in 2005–2009, 30 percent in 2010–2014 and only 16 percent durign the last examined period, 2015–2018. The analysis also shows that the meaning of "otrygghet" has undergone significant changes. From being used as a descriptive term commonly signifying economic and materialist unpredictability, over time "otrygghet" has come to be used almost exclusively in a crime context. The concept is exclusively used to argue for increased measures of police control and judicial expansion during the last examined period of 2018. This dissertation argues that the development and expansion of fear of crime research can be understood by examining the function that fear of crime research fulfils in legitimizing an increased level of state control, which makes it a good fit for the penal politics of late modernity. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Vad hände med innebörden av ordet "otrygghet", ett ord med gamla svenska rötter och en tidigare etablerad innebörd, när det amerikanska forskningsfältet "Fear of Crime" introducerade i Sverige och översattes till "Otrygghet"? Syftet med denna avhandling är att beskriva trygghetsforskningens uppkomst, etablering och expansion i Sverige, i syfte att besvara frågor om forskningsdiskursens funktion, spridning och institutionella drivande aktörer, och granska metoder, samt teoretiska och epistemologiska antaganden.
Uppkomsten och etableringen och expansionen av trygghetsforskning i Sverige från dess Amerikanska ursprung analyseras med hjälp av dokument, intervjuer med nyckelpersoner, och genom en enkät till svenska kommuner om deras... (More) - Vad hände med innebörden av ordet "otrygghet", ett ord med gamla svenska rötter och en tidigare etablerad innebörd, när det amerikanska forskningsfältet "Fear of Crime" introducerade i Sverige och översattes till "Otrygghet"? Syftet med denna avhandling är att beskriva trygghetsforskningens uppkomst, etablering och expansion i Sverige, i syfte att besvara frågor om forskningsdiskursens funktion, spridning och institutionella drivande aktörer, och granska metoder, samt teoretiska och epistemologiska antaganden.
Uppkomsten och etableringen och expansionen av trygghetsforskning i Sverige från dess Amerikanska ursprung analyseras med hjälp av dokument, intervjuer med nyckelpersoner, och genom en enkät till svenska kommuner om deras trygghetsarbete. Frågan om förändrad begreppsinnebörd av ordet "otrygghet" analyseras genom att jämföra begreppsanvändning i socialdemokratiska och moderata motioner och propositioner från Svenska Riksdagen från fem tidsperioder: 1978, 1988, 1998, 2008, 2018.
Teoretiskt är avhandlingen inspirerad av en foucauldianskt intresse för relationen mellan kunskap och maktanspråk. Begreppsförändringen analyseras med ett teoretiskt ramverk inspirerat av den tyska begreppshistorikern Reinhardt Koselleck. Den brittiska sociologen Stuart Hall har inspirerat avhandlingen syfte i att analysera en kriminologisk och sociologisk utveckling i relation till den mer omfattande samhällsutveckling som har ägt rum i senmodern tid.
Huvudsakliga resultat visar på en hastig och omfattande expansion av trygghetsforskning i Sverige under 2000-talet. Mellan 2003 och 2007 ökar antalet nationella enkätundersökningar med trygghetsindikatorer från en till sex. Undersökningen om Svenska Levnadsvanor började mäta trygghet redan 1978, och under 2000-talet tillkommer även Lokal Uppföljning av Ungdomspolitiken (LUPP) 2003, Hälsa på Lika Villkor 2004, Medborgarundersökningen 2005, Nationella Trygghetsundersökningen 2006, samt MSB's Trygghetsundersökning 2007. En kraftig ökning av trygghetsmätningar i svenska kommuner inträffar under 2010-talet. Andelen kommuner som inte utför trygghetmätningar minskar från 98% före 1995, till 94% under perioden 1995–1999, 74% under perioden 2000–2004, 51% under perioden 2005–2009,30% under perioden 2010–2014 och endast 16% utför inte trygghetsmätningar under den sista granskade perioden 2015–2018.
Analysen av begreppsförändring visar att innebörden av ordet otrygghet har förändrats betydligt i de granskade dokumenten. Från att ha använts som en beskrivande term främst för att understryka en materiell ojämnhet och bristande förutsägbarhet, till att komma att associeras till brott och våld. Begreppet använts i dokumenten från 2018 främst för att argumentera för ökande befogenheter för polisen och fler övervaknings- och kontrollrelaterade åtgärder. Att forskningen om otrygghet kan legitimera den typen av åtgärder på en vetenskaplig grund menar denna avhandling är en av trygghetsforskningens främsta funktioner.
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/930c964a-b0a4-40fc-9d8e-2a11b67774d7
- author
- Sahlin Lilja, Hanna LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Heber, Anita, Stockholm University
- organization
- alternative title
- Trygghetsforskningens uppkomst, etablering och expansion i Sverige
- publishing date
- 2021-11-23
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Kriminologi, Trygghet, Otrygghet, Trygghetsforskning
- in
- Lund Dissertations in Sociology
- volume
- 1
- issue
- 125
- pages
- 300 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Eden auditorium, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund
- defense date
- 2021-12-17 13:15:00
- ISSN
- 1102–4712
- ISBN
- 978-91-8039-026-2
- 978-91-8039-025-5
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 930c964a-b0a4-40fc-9d8e-2a11b67774d7
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-24 17:26:02
- date last changed
- 2023-05-08 15:20:08
@phdthesis{930c964a-b0a4-40fc-9d8e-2a11b67774d7,
abstract = {{The purpose of this dissertation is to construct an historical account of the emergence, establishment, and expansion of fear of crime research in Sweden. This dissertation aims to answer questions about the function, spread, and high level of institutional engagement of fear of crime research by analyzing the literature and examining the methodological, theoretical, and epistemological origins of fear of crime research itself. What happened when fear of crime was translated as "otrygghet", a word with a previously established meaning in Swedish? The analysis on the emergence of fear of crime in Sweden is based on documents, a survey of Swedish municipalities, and key informant interviews. The question of conceptual change is addressed through comparing how "otrygghet" is used by Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna in motions and bills from the Swedish Riksdag across five time periods: 1978, 1988, 1998, 2008 and 2018. The dissertation is theoretically inspired by a Foucauldian interest in the intersection of power and knowledge and by an interest in historicizing the sociological and criminological development that this thesis depicts, using the work of Stuart Hall. The analysis of conceptual change is inspired by the conceptual historian Reinhart Koselleck. The results show a rapid and striking expansion of fear of crime measurements during the 2000s. From 2003 to 2007, the number of national surveys containing fear of crime indicators grew from one to six, to include The Survey of Living Conditions that premiered in 1978, the Local Youth Politics Survey in 2003, The National Public Health survey in 2004, The Citizen Survey in 2005, The Swedish Crime Survey in 2006, and The Swedish Contingencies Agency Survey in 2007. For the municipalities, the period with the most dramatic increase in fear of crime measurements happens in the 2010’s, The percentage of municipalities that don’t do fear of crime surveys decreases from 98 percent before 1995, to 94 percent in 1995–1999, 74 percent in 2000–2004, 51 percent in 2005–2009, 30 percent in 2010–2014 and only 16 percent durign the last examined period, 2015–2018. The analysis also shows that the meaning of "otrygghet" has undergone significant changes. From being used as a descriptive term commonly signifying economic and materialist unpredictability, over time "otrygghet" has come to be used almost exclusively in a crime context. The concept is exclusively used to argue for increased measures of police control and judicial expansion during the last examined period of 2018. This dissertation argues that the development and expansion of fear of crime research can be understood by examining the function that fear of crime research fulfils in legitimizing an increased level of state control, which makes it a good fit for the penal politics of late modernity.}},
author = {{Sahlin Lilja, Hanna}},
isbn = {{978-91-8039-026-2}},
issn = {{1102–4712}},
keywords = {{Kriminologi; Trygghet; Otrygghet; Trygghetsforskning}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
number = {{125}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Dissertations in Sociology}},
title = {{The Emergence, Establishment och Expansion of Fear of Crime Research in Sweden}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/110098269/Hanna_Sahlin_Lilja_Avhandling.pdf}},
volume = {{1}},
year = {{2021}},
}