Format:
31 Seiten
ISBN:
978-3-86205-955-3
Content:
The Destruction of the Security »Myth«: The Feeling of Insecurity as It Is Understood by Private Security Companies in Japan Although the crime rate in Japan has been decreasing since 2002, the feeling of insecurity (taikan chian) in Japanese society has not been improving to the same extent. While private security companies can offer their clients services to prevent threatening risks from happening, they have had to deal with a reluctant public ever since their establishment in the 1960s. In popular discourse, security has often been taken for granted and considered to be a service that should not be paid for. By successfully providing a secure environment at major events such as the Ise-Shima Summit in 2016, however, private security companies are increasingly able to build trustful relationships with local police and citizens. In this paper, I am going to explain how views on security and risk are being put forward by these firms. I tackle this question by conducting a discourse analysis of articles published in newspapers and magazines specialized in this business sector. I refer to Olaf Corry’s approach of riskification as a suitable framework for showing the complex processes of how notions of security are being shaped. I shall conclude that joint statements from representatives of the police and private companies play a crucial role in constructing what is being perceived as a risk. In the articles, recent positive developments have been acknowledged, but special forms of crime are nevertheless seen as a challenge to Japanese society. Only by working together with local communities and private actors, can the aim for a »society without crime« be considered achievable. Thus, security firms are becoming more and more involved in actions that offer security not only to their clients, but to society in general. Considering these developments, it is questionable whether the monopoly over physical power as explained by Max Weber is still accurate.
In:
Japan 2018, 2018, (2018), Seite 211-241, 978-3-86205-955-3
In:
year:2018
In:
pages:211-241
Language:
German
Keywords:
Japan
;
Subjektive Sicherheit
;
Bewachungsgewerbe
DOI:
10.48796/20230705-017
URN:
urn:nbn:de:0308-20230705-017-4
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