ABSTRACT
In order to assess the impact of community context on the attitudes and behaviors of local residents, the authors look at a number of different types of urban communities. They examine that fear of crime within the context of varying neighborhood settings was conducted in ten urban neighborhoods. Four of these are located in Chicago: Wicker Park, Lincoln Park, Back of the Yards, and Woodlawn. Three are in Philadelphia: South Philadelphia. West Philadelphia, and Logan. And three are in San Francisco: Mission, Visitacion Valley, and Sunset. These neighborhoods were neither randomly selected nor meant to be representative of the cities in which they were located. The authors argue that varying fear levels in the study sites can be accounted for in part by the failure of local institutions to exert social control. They identify as sources of social control those resources that residents bring to bear in combatting neighborhood problems and in defending the local moral order.
