Citation

Furr LA, Austin DM, Cribbs SE, Smoger SH. Sociol. Spectr. 2005; 25(5): 519-537.

Affiliation

University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA; University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Mid-South Sociological Association, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/02732170500175957

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Neighborhood and urban conditions have long been shown to have a strong impact on residents' feelings of safety and fear or crime. Researchers, however, have not tested the relationship between neighborhood conditions and perception of safety among refugees groups. Comparisons between a general sample of Louisville residents and refugees from the former Soviet Union indicated that refugees were less satisfied with their neighborhoods than the general sample, yet had significantly higher levels of perception of safety. These findings are contrary of previous research that has shown that less satisfaction is associated with lower perception of safety and are explained in terms of the contextual shifts in the management of risk. The relative and subjective meanings of social change may be of greater importance in understanding refugees' perception of safety than relationships to immediate neighborhood settings.