> People living in gated communities have a higher perceived level of crime [1] than those who don't so it's not that surprising that the more isolated you are, the more you see the rest of world as dangerous
Okay, their perception of crime is higher than it should be. What about the level of crime inside vs outside of the gated community?
It really doesn't matter if someone thinks that there are 4 rapes per second outside of their bubble, if the rate inside the bubble is significantly lower than the rate outside the bubble.
Thinking that it is 4 rapes per second when the actual number is 4 rapes per month is irrelevant when there are 4 rapes per decade inside the bubble.
IOW, you are not making any point worth discussing. I don't care whether my perception of crime outside of my bubble is higher than the actual crime outside of my bubble, I care whether it is more dangerous outside of my bubble than inside.
> In this study [1] in California, they've found no difference in actual crime but the gated community believed they were safer than the outside.
Not quite; they found that the crime rate as reported by the respondents to the survey did not differ. They did not look at the actual crimes reported to the law enforcement agencies.
We already know that people perceive the crime rate inaccurately; asking respondents what the crime rate is, is pointless.
> They did not look at the actual crimes reported to the law enforcement agencies.
Where are you reading this?
Page 8 of the study says they got their actual crime data from the Newport Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department. They compared this to their comparative perceived safety "by asking how safe the respondents felt their community was as compared to other communities."
Page 10: "The gated community showed a significantly higher rating of comparative community safety as compared with the nongated community" whereas "there was no significant difference in the per capita crime rate for the gated community as compared with the nongated community."
Okay, their perception of crime is higher than it should be. What about the level of crime inside vs outside of the gated community?
It really doesn't matter if someone thinks that there are 4 rapes per second outside of their bubble, if the rate inside the bubble is significantly lower than the rate outside the bubble.
Thinking that it is 4 rapes per second when the actual number is 4 rapes per month is irrelevant when there are 4 rapes per decade inside the bubble.
IOW, you are not making any point worth discussing. I don't care whether my perception of crime outside of my bubble is higher than the actual crime outside of my bubble, I care whether it is more dangerous outside of my bubble than inside.