Risks of criminal victimization in contemporary urban China: An application of lifestyle/routine activities theory

This study examines the influence of lifestyles/routine activities on victimization in urban China. Using survey data recently collected in the city of Tianjin, we address three research questions that are informed by Western lifestyle/routine activities theories: (1) How do lifestyles/ routine activities differ across demographic groups in Tianjin? (2) To what extent and in what ways are lifestyles/routine activities related to the risks of personal victimization? (3) To what extent and in what ways does the patterning of victimization risk across demographic groups conform to that observed in the West? The results replicate some findings that have been reported for the US and other Western nations but reveal divergent patterns as well. We conclude that the lifestyle/routine activities perspectives are applicable to urban China at a general level, at least for property offenses, but that these perspectives need to be applied flexibly to reflect distinctive features of the sociocultural context.