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O debate público adotou as questões da (in)segurança, fazendo fixar imagens do que são o crime e a violência em Portugal. Essas imagens estão repletas de ambiguidade, não só pelos próprios paradoxos que a comunidade científica já mostrou serem constitutivos do sentimento de insegurança, mas igualmente pela profusão das falas dos diversos atores sociais em cena - da comunicação social às instâncias de controlo formal. Aqui, seguimos a rotação operada do medo à cidade, com o surgimento dos perigos modernos, para o sentimento de insegurança, tomado como objeto das ciências sociais. Analisamos, depois, dois determinantes da sua construção: os seus elementos ecossociais - a partir de um estudo em curso no Centro do Porto; e a sua dimensão mediática - a partir de casos recentes fortemente mediatizados. Espera-se, desta forma, contribuir para reduzir o grau de ambiguidade que tem marcado a expressão pública deste objeto.The public debate has taken the issues of (in)security, creating fixed images of what is crime and violence in Portugal. Images full of ambiguity, not only for their paradoxes that the scientific community has shown to be constitutive of the feeling of insecurity, but also by the profusion of utterances of the various social actors on the scene - from the media to the instances of formal control. Here, we follow the shift from the fear of city, with the advent of modern dangers, to the feeling of insecurity, which is the subject of social sciences. We analyse thereafter two determinants of its construction: its eco-social elements - from an ongoing study at the Centre of Porto, and its public dimension - from recent cases with a high media exposure. We expect thus to contribute to a reduction of the degree of ambiguity that has marked the public expression of this subject.

O artigo que se apresenta tem com objecto de análise a representação do sentimento de insegurança face ao crime, com base no estudo comparativo de duas comunidades em Portugal, cujos modelos dominantes de sociabilidade pouco se assemelham - concelho de Mértola e linha de Sintra; concelho de Mértola erodido por uma contínua desertificação demográfica, e linha de Sintra em crescente expansão urbanística e demográfica. Procurou-se interpretar os discursos produzidos pelos entrevistados, sujeitos à influência não só dos signos e mecanismos que definem a modernidade, como ao efeito socializante dos grandes paradigmas que marcam a vivência nas sociedades contemporâneas. Normatividade e ruptura face ao estabelecido são uma constante ao longo do artigo. Não existe um sentimento de insegurança. O que habita os indivíduos são uma pluralidade de formas de expressar os receios construídos a partir do cruzamento de variáveis como: o tipo de solidariedade dominante na comunidade ou no local de residência; a proximidade residencial de locais vincados pela exclusão e por assimetrias socioculturais e económicas; e a experiência de vitimação directa ou emocionalmente próxima. Conclui-se que tais variáveis condicionam as práticas e as representações que os indivíduos vão construindo acerca da definição dos agentes e suas motivações para o comportamento desviante, assim como da eficácia dos mecanismos de controlo social.This article analyzes the representation of the feeling of insecurity in the face of crime, based on the comparative study of two communities in Portugal, with different models of sociability - concelho de Mértola and linha de Sintra; concelho de Mértola, eroded by a continuous demographic desertification, and linha de Sintra in increasing urban and demographic expansion. The paper interprets the interviews as a result of the influence of the signs and mechanisms that define modernity, and the socializing effect of the great paradigms that characterize life in contemporary societies. Normativity and rupture in face of the status quo appear constantly throughout the article. There is no feeling of insecurity. The individuals have many ways to express the apprehension that results from the intersection of variables such as: the dominant type of solidarity in the community or place of residence; residential proximity to places marked by exclusion and socio-cultural and economic asymmetries; and the experience of victimization, either direct or emotionally close. It appears that these variables influence the practices and representations that individuals create to define the agents and their motivation for deviant behavior, as well as the efficacy of the mechanisms of social control.

Criminality and feelings of insecurity are growing in the capital-city of Mozambique: Maputo. Statistical indicators on the subject, with which we have to be very cautious, are fostered by the discourses of part of the civil society as well as the public and private security actors. Urban violence is amplified by its emerging character in a sudden neo-liberal context and increasing social inequalities. However, criminality in this city cannot be understood without the historical national background. On the field, crime distribution proceeds along a target/refuge area division. Nevertheless, this colonial urban split has to be reconsidered. Local particularities have a higher and more complex spatial incidence on the phenomenon. The public authority lacks the capacity to curb this expanding criminality, especially as it suffers from a negative image. In response, the civil society adheres to varied alternative security devices, which are generally linked to the private sphere. What is interesting to note is that private security follows the social and economic urban groups. In the end, a kind of “territorializing” of urban reactions against criminality emerges today in Maputo.

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Copyright of Sociologias is the property of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents an abstract of a study which examines the effects of media on the formation of the public opinion. The study deals with determining the impact of television on the feeling of insecurity among viewers, thus asking for more steps and measure in regard to safety and as an objective to protect society against crime. This work is focused upon "Barra Pesada," a television programme shown daily on a Brazilian channel. The study deals in understanding the receptive and perceptive power of the viewers as to how individuals decodify the presented information through this type of detective programme. In this respect, the work of British theorist Stuart Hall, who introduced an idea of the process of message centered on receiver, were utilized.