ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the multifaceted nature of fear makes perceived safety a difficult issue to tackle. Instead of denying such complexity, it attempts to provide examples of how such anxieties form and are associated with the fear of crime in rural environments in Sweden. “Perceived safety” is a general concept used to characterize both fear of crime and other overall anxieties, often measured by safety and crime victims’ surveys. Individual factors play an important role in defining perceptions of risk and safety. Gender and age are perhaps the strongest ones. Among the individual factors, prior victimization is often considered a determinant of a person’s fear. Physical isolation may also lead to a disproportionately high declared fear of crime because of individuals’ relative vulnerability. Social relationships in rural communities are traditionally thought to be based on networks of personal ties that perpetuate over time, while in urban areas social networks are thought to be less stable.
