Abstract:

The present work analyze the Spanish society's feeling of insecurity in the face of two such unequal phenomena as a global pandemic and a war in a neighbouring country of the European Union, localised but with the capacity to unleash a conflict with destructive consequences as yet unproven by humanity. We show that the feeling of insecurity in the face of exceptional situations can be differentiated from that which the population experiences fronting delinquency and criminality, on which we establish a theoretical basis. We also address the relationship between insecurity and fear, which are sometimes considered interchangeably. Using the statistical method and CIS survey data, we identify the population variables related to their feelings of insecurity, with age being important in both cases, together with other circumstantial factors. Likewise, we have identified a relevant relationship between insecurity in the face of COVID-19 and the claim for more demanding control and isolation measures, as well as between insecurity in the face of the war in Ukraine and the desire for greater investment in defence and the creation of a European army. The results obtained help us to establish lines of work for future social research on public insecurity.

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