Safety perceptions among African migrants in Guangzhou and Foshan, China

Abstract

Safety perceptions have received considerable attention in criminology and geography, yet few studies have looked into international migrants to developing countries. This study proposes a conceptual framework to account for migrant-specific characteristics and examines this framework with a sample of African migrants in Guangzhou and Foshan, China. Results from multilevel ordered logistic regression show that predictors of their perceptions of property safety and personal safety are different. Consistent with literature, their satisfaction with income in China, family support, and prior victimization experience strongly predict migrants' sense of security. Besides, we further find that perceived discrimination, indicative of migrants' acculturation process, decrease their sense of safety, and passport-check experience, indicative of migrants' relationship with local police, significantly lowers their personal safety perception. Migrants from countries with worse security conditions perceive a higher personal safety in China. Social trust, especially migrants' trust in Chinese businessmen and religious fellows are also associated with their security perception. The effect of geography is also examined but no substantial variation in safety perceptions is observed among four Diasporas. Findings of this study provide insight that may help reevaluate policies affecting daily life of African migrants and their perception of safety.