Altruistic Fear

Karen A. Snedker

Altruistic fear, according to Mark Warr (1992), is when someone fears that a person other than himself or herself will be the object of crime. Although social scientists have studied fear of crime for several decades, only recently have a few scholars distinguished between personal fear of crime and fear for others or made it a distinct object of analysis. Separating personal fear from fear for the safety and well-being of others is an important conceptual distinction that carries both methodological and policy implications. Distinguishing between the two types of fear of crime in surveys and interviews enhances our understanding of each phenomenon as well as of the possible interactions between the two. Studies focused on fear for others as a distinctive object of analysis are limited in number but are conceptually rigorous and methodologically varied, representing both quantitative and qualitative research designs. Taken together, they provide a rich understanding ...

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