The Gendered Impact of Crime on Political Knowledge: How Crime Impacts Cognition among Citizens in Sub-Saharan Africa

Johanna Söderström

doi:10.1080/17419166.2019.1643326

Abstract

ABSTRACTDoes crime exposure impair levels of political knowledge? The literature on crime has focused on its causes as well as its scope, while ignoring how it might influence the practice of political citizenship. Informed citizens are more able to practice their political citizenship. Exploring the impact of experiencing an insecure environment in itself, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of how the citizen responds to crime (burglary and physical attacks). Working memory has limitations and previous research has shown how resource scarcity limits cognitive capacities. This article suggests that crime might produce a situation of security scarcity, i.e. insecurity, which limits cognitive capacity in a similar fashion. This hypothesis is tested in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa, using survey data from the Afrobarometer (Round 4). The findings demonstrate how experiencing a security scarcity decreases political knowledge among male citizens, but not among female citizens.

Highlights

The ability of citizens to make considered judgments is essential for holding elected representatives accountable, as well as for forward-looking electoral decisions
The findings demonstrate how experiencing a security scarcity decreases political knowledge among male citizens, but not among female citizens
In Model 4, 5 and 6 the country level controls of GDP per capita and democracy are added, and again we see that the relationship between crime exposure, security scarcity, and political knowledge is reported as negative in the full sample, but not statistically significant

Summary

Introduction

The ability of citizens to make considered judgments is essential for holding elected representatives accountable, as well as for forward-looking electoral decisions. This article attempts to rectify this, by examining whether crime can impact levels of political knowledge, through the creation of security scarcity.

Results

Conclusion