Avoid or Take Risk?

This book is on trust, perceptions of risk of criminal victimization and feelings of fear that are central to women¿s experiences in contemporary neo-liberal India, specifically focusing on the city of Kolkata. Risk pervades every aspect of life and it is trust that enables individuals to navigate a world where uncertainties are mounting along with individualization of risk whereby individuals are made responsible for every risk they take.Whom and how much to trust in this era of modernity characterized by anonymity, unpredictability, expanding threats and hazards depends on the individual¿s subject position. However individuals are oriented to or driven by ¿social structural forces¿ to place full trust and leave no room for risk perception on some status positions.This interlinking of trust with familiarity has serious implications for women in their understanding of criminological risks in their everyday lived experience. . The book maps women¿s everyday experiences of risk, fear and insecurities of personal harm both within their social networks and in public and the strategies they use to handle fear in the city of Kolkata.