Collective efficacy and fear of crime: An empirical and theoretical exploration in the context of contemporary urban China

Using survey data collected from 2245 adults in a major city in southeastern China, this study examines the role of collective efficacy in shaping fear of crime, with particular attention to whether collective efficacy moderates the relationships between perceived neighborhood disorder/crime and fear of crime, thereby testing a theory-centered account that fear is socially produced through neighborhood social processes. Ordinary least squares regression models with neighborhood fixed effects estimate these relationships while controlling for perceived disorder, perceived criminal activity, semi-formal and formal social control, and individual-level covariates. The results reveal a salient relationship between collective efficacy and two dimensions of fear of crime—emotional fear and perceived risk of victimization. Higher collective efficacy is associated with lower emotional fear and perceived risk. The analysis also demonstrates a moderating role of collective efficacy: the positive relationships between perceived neighborhood disorder/crime and fear become weaker as collective efficacy increases. These findings suggest that collective efficacy is relevant not only as a neighborhood correlate of fear but also as a neighborhood social process through which disorder and crime are interpreted. More broadly, the results support a theory-centered understanding of fear of crime as a socially produced outcome within layered neighborhood social control contexts.