What effect does inequality have on residents’ sense of safety? Exploring the mediating processes of social capital and civic engagement

ABSTRACT

A sense of safety and security is of the utmost importance for most residents because it contributes to personal and collective well-being. However, that sense of safety may rest upon community structural factors such as inequality and intracommunity factors such as social capital and civic engagement. In fact, these factors may mediate the relationship between inequality and residents’ sense of safety. As such, the purpose of this study is to investigate this process—the extent to which social capital and civic engagement partially mediate the relationship between economic inequality and sense of safety across 26 U.S. metro areas. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we found that social capital fully mediates the relationship between inequality and sense of safety but that civic engagement does not. Specifically, residents in communities characterized by high levels of inequality also report reduced levels of social capital, which then results in a lower sense of safety. Additionally, residents who report lower civic engagement report that their communities are less safe.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the six anonymous reviewers of this article and the thoughtful input of the managing editor. Your feedback was instrumental in developing an article worthy of publication in this journal.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charles R. Collins

Charles R. Collins is an Assistant Professor of Community Psychology at the University of Washington Bothell. His research investigates social and racial inequality, specifically focusing on the structural factors that contribute to inequality and how marginalized communities can take action to address community issues. This research has taken two paths. The first uses quantitative research to understand structural barriers to community organization, such as inequality. The second takes a qualitative approach to investigate the cognitive, social, and relational factors that encourage individual and community actions to address social issues.

Shelby Guidry

Shelby Guidry is a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Policy Studies (MAPS) program at the University of Washington Bothell. Her research seeks to understand racialized forms of inequality in the United States.