Speaking of fear: convergences between the cities of Porto and Rio de Janeiro

• Published in: Revista brasileira de ciências sociais Vol. 27; no. 78; pp. 51 - 65
• Main Authors: Rego, Ximene, Fernandes, Luis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: 01.02.2012
• Subjects: Cities; Crime Rates; Discourse; Everyday Life; Fear of Crime; Fieldwork; Public Space; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Risk
• ISSN: 0102-6909
• DOI: 10.1590/S0102-69092012000100004

Taking as starting point the riddle of the paradox of insecurity (the lack of correlation between the change in crime rate and sense of insecurity) we propose a reflection on the speaking of fear produced in Porto and Rio de Janeiro, where we have carried out fieldwork. In this sense, these dimensions are discussed in the discourse of (in)security: the representations of places seen as dangerous and the relationship that goes on between centers and interstitial spaces; the construction of an imaginary filled with threatening figures; the securitarian strategies deployed to organize the daily life in a public space perceived as predatory. Both the speaking and the practices registered express contact points in strategies used to accentuate the 'dangerousness' of the city, always more intense in Rio de Janeiro, but also present in the material gathered in Porto, parallels that, more than from crime rates disclosed or from direct experience, are engendered in the relationship with the city -- with its places and its actors -- allowing, even in a setting so unequal, a discursive approach. Adapted from the source document.