TY  - GEN
AB  - Crime, violence, and insecurity are among the most important social topics in contemporary
Costa Rica. These three issues play a central role in the media, politics, and everyday life,
and the impression has emerged that security has changed for the worse and that society is
now threatened permanently. However, crime statistics do not support this perception. The
paper thus asks why violence and crime generate such huge fear in society. The thesis is that
the Costa Rican national identity—with Costa Rica constructed as a nonviolent nation—
impedes a realistic discussion about the phenomena and their causes, and simultaneously
provides a platform for sensationalism and the social construction of fear.
DA  - 2008
KW  - violence
KW  - Costa Rica
KW  - national identity
KW  - crime
KW  - public discourse
LA  - eng
PY  - 2008
SP  - 32-
TI  - A History of Non-Violence: Insecurity and the Normative Power of the Imagined in Costa Rica
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-25286631
Y2  - 2024-11-22T05:40:27
ER  -