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Perceptions of Public Security in Post-reform Urban China: A Routine Activity Analysis

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Abstract

This paper investigates the personal and environmental determinants of public security perceptions across 32 Chinese cities within the risk/opportunity framework of Cohen and Felson’s (American Sociological Review 44:588–608, 1979) routine activity theory. Structural path analysis reveals that public security perceptions in China are informed by similar personal and environment characteristics to those reported as important in extant research within Western contexts. However, the frequently reported influence of gender on public security perceptions in the West does not appear to extend to post-reform urban China. The results provide support for the routine activity theory in terms of extending our understanding of the factors that influence perceptions of public security to a non-Western context.

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Notes

  1. In particular, the routine activity theory was posited to explain “direct-contact predatory violations”, which involve direct physical encounters between offenders and victims, where victims may be people or property.

  2. While perceptions of public security represent one dimension of the fear of crime, we do not assume that they encompass a comprehensive set of cognitive and affective reactions to crime. Rather, our measure is a more general evaluation of neighborhood security, and is in line with research by Kanan and Pruitt (2002) that more accurately addresses one’s perceived risk of victimization. In the context of victimization in urban locales, public disorder problems are of greater concern to residents than criminal law violation.

  3. The cities sampled were Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Huhehaote, Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, Fuzhou, Nanchang, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Guangzhou, Nanning, Haikou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Guiyang, Kunming, Lhasa, Xi’an, Lanzhou, Xining, Yinchuan, Urumqi, and Xiamen.

  4. The income variable in this study is categorical. On a scale of 20 income categories ranging from the lowest income group to the highest income group, the median income category is the ninth, skewed to the lower end. The mean monthly household income of the sample is not necessarily equal to the median value and, more than likely, it will be smaller than the median value.

  5. Four of 35 cities are not included in this survey; namely, Dalian, Ningbo, Shenzhen, and Qingdao. Lasa is also not listed among the 35 cities but it is included in the survey employed here.

  6. Data were first examined for missing values, univariate and multivariate outliers, normality and linearity. There were less than 5% missing data and, as there was no evidence of systematic omission amongst this missing data, all missing values were substituted with columnwise mean values, which is the preferred method according to Tabachnick and Fidell (2001). While this method allows for retention of the entire sample, it does reduce the variance and might possibly attenuate results. No univariate or multivariate outliers were present. Univariate normality of the dependent variable was confirmed using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Normality of residuals for the independent variables was assessed by examination of residuals plots for each variable. All residuals were normally distributed. The linearity of the independent variables was assessed by the examination of scatterplots for item pairs. All the data demonstrated acceptable linearity.

  7. The term mangliu, which is used to describe the floating population in China, is a play on the word liumang, which means vagrant or hooligan.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Jade Bilardi, Joanna Nikopoulos and Yubo Zhai for research assistance on this project and the editor and two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions.

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  1. Department of Management, Monash University, Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia

    Ingrid Nielsen

  2. Department of Economics, Monash University, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, 3145, Victoria, Australia

    Russell Smyth

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Nielsen, I., Smyth, R. Perceptions of Public Security in Post-reform Urban China: A Routine Activity Analysis. Asian Criminology 4, 145–163 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-009-9068-5

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