Abstract
This chapter maps the extent and ways in which subjective insecurity is unequally distributed in rich countries. Using data from the OECD's 2020 Risks That Matter Survey, covering more than 13, 000 individuals in 20 countries, we show, first, that average levels of insecurity vary massively between countries, with Nordic and Northern continental European countries typically exhibiting the lowest and Southern European countries the highest levels of insecurity. Second, concerns in different domains (health, income, job loss, housing and crime) are related in such ways that we can speak of an underlying latent kind of insecurity. Third, and most important for this book is the fact that insecurity is highly unequally distributed between (groups of) people. Individual differences in insecurity are strongly shaped by gender, income and education and, to some extent, age. While unequal security is more pronounced in some countries, it is present everywhere in some form or another. We explore this further but zooming in on national data from the ‘least likely case’ of Denmark which, despite its generous welfare policies and culture of equality, has seen a rise in unequal security in recent years. Finally, the chapter explores to what extent welfare state context shapes the distribution of subjective insecurity and finds that conventional measures of welfare state generosity surprisingly have no effect on the ‘security gap’ in rich OECD countries.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Unequal Security : Welfare, Crime and Social Inequality |
Editors | Peter Starke, Laust Lund Elbek, Georg Wenzelburger |
Publisher | Routledge |
Publication date | 2025 |
Pages | 24-50 |
Chapter | 2 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781032573168, 9781032611259 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781040182796, 9781003462132 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2025 |
Bibliographical note
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