Collective Efficacy, Neighborhood and Geographical Units of Analysis: Findings From a Case Study of Swedish Residential Neighborhoods1

Findings From a Case Study of Swedish Residential Neighborhoods1 Collective efficacy theory is based on the notion that residents of a neighborhood may share a common sense of trust and willingness to act for the common good (Sampson et al 1997). It is strongly negatively correlated to fear of crime, disorder and several types of violent crime and as such an important theoretical concept (Sampson et al 2002; Browning 2002; Gibson et al 2002; Ivert et al 2013). But do citizens really feel a common sense of trust and willingness to act within a neighborhood? If so, what is a neighborhood?