Det ökade våldet i arbetslivet : En analys utifrån de svenska offerundersökningarna

• Victim surveys from both Sweden and her Nordic neighbours show that the proportion reporting exposure to violence at work has increased during the 1990s. This article examines the question of how this trend should be understood. Does the increase reflect a rise in the number of people exposed to such violence, or is it rather due to an increase in the focus on violence and a broadening of the way violence is defined? On the basis of Swedish victim surveys covering the period 1984 - 2001, the article examines whether the character of this problem has changed as regards the seriousness of the violence, the occupational groups exposed to such violence, and the extent to which victims have contacted the police. The study shows that there has been an increase in exposure to threats and violence at work. This increase is found primarily in relation to violence and not to threats, among women, and in particular those working with some form of care provision. One surprising finding is that the propensity to report work-related violence has diminished somewhat, something that is not true for other types of violence. We thus find a high propensity to report when levels of exposure are low, and a lower reporting propensity once exposure to violence has increased. This trend is conceptualized against the background of a shift in and broadening of the type of incidents reported in the context of victim surveys. Acts of violence against persons employed in the health sector, schools and in care provision are less likely to be reported to the police than violence perpetrated against members of other occupational groups. Thus as care workers come to account for an increasing proportion of both violent incidents and the victims of violence, the aggregate propensity to report such incidents decreases. When the focus is limited to those individuals working in the care sector who have themselves been exposed to violence, there are no signs of a reduction in their reporting propensity.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Juridik -- Juridik och samhälle (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Law -- Law and Society (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

workplace

violence

sweden

crime

assault

Criminology

Kriminologi

General Criminology

allmän kriminologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)