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Recommended: Car culture essay
Since the release of Bourdieu’s work, authors looked into the affective factors that affected car consumption. Initial work done looked at subcultures in countries where the car was used not only for self-expression but also as a place of socialising with family and friends. The car was seen to bring individuals together and thus given a social value (Miller 2001; Urry 2001). Furthermore, the activities done with/to the car created different cultures and communities that reflected their values, rituals and interests through the good. In America, the car was customised through redesign, addition of paint or vocabulary on the car and was used in a manner that exhibited the values of belonging to a gang or a community (Moorhouse, 1991).
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Authors such as Sheller (2004), Urry (2006) Seiler (2009) and Newman (2013), describe how car cultures have gone from social and material aspects to affective dimensions to create emotional cultures. The feelings about the car, the feelings experienced within the car- whilst driving or just dwelling create certain forms of passion that go into either a positive direction or a negative direction. Consumers are either excited about the car or experience anxiety and fear. Thus the emotional culture of cars doesn’t just limit itself to expression of emotions but also invokes and manages them through expectations, patterns and anticipations. The authors use Bourdieu’s work on class to explore how capital class and social class affect what is felt in the car and about the car. Another culture that forms from this is the culture of auto-freedom in which consumers’ experience of mobility, speed, power forms a community of those who enjoy it. Different levels of culture are identified- from small groups to a National level where a nation feels a certain way when it comes to cars- creates a national identity. Similarly other authors approach cultures based on collective feelings that drive consumers into the consumption of cars (Ruvio and Shoham, 2011). As such, many authors have studied how car consumption creates …show more content…
A method used consistently has had some form of qualitative, empirical research and sometimes combined with quantitative data from surveys. I believe this was to help identify underlying complex factors. Yet, the articles don’t explore explicitly how these attitudes, preferences and choices are made. Consequently, referring to books written for transportation policies and problems surrounding this transport mode became necessary to understanding these
In Christopher Wells’ book Car Country: An Environmental History he starts by speaking about his experience over the years with automobiles. He describes how happy he was to own his first automobile. Mr. Wells goes into detail about the inconveniences of driving in towns where everything is fairly accessible, and the necessity of an automobile in major cities. Although Mr. Wells enjoyed his first car, his local surrounding helped shape the attitude he has towards motor vehicles to this day. Mr. Wells also argued that car dependence in America is connected with the landscape. Wells rejects the notion that America ‘s automobile landscape emerged as a byproduct of consumer’s desires for motor vehicles or as the result of conspiracies to eliminate
Car culture had caused some serious headaches for city planners in the 1950s. They had not anticipated the added traffic when building cities and were forced to adjust their plans with mixed results. There were many side effects to the restructuring of the city, and most were not good for the city center. Business and customers were no longer funneled into the now crowded city center in favor of the more spacious and convenient periphery. Community life as well as business in the city center really suffered as a result of suburbanization caused by the car. Jane Jacobs says in her chapter called "Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Automobiles" in the book Autopia, "Today everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles (259...
Andrew Simms, a policy director and head of the Climate Change Program for the New Economics Foundation in England, presents his argument about the impact SUV’s have on our roadways, and the air we breathe. “Would You Buy a Car That Looked like This? “. The title alone gives great insight on what the article is going to be about, (vehicles). “They clog the streets and litter the pages of weekend colour *supplements. Sport utility vehicles or SUV’s have become badges of middle class aspiration” (Simms 542). Simms opening statement not only gives his opinion on how SUV’s are the new trend, but he also paints a picture of what we see every day driving down our roadways. Simms also compares the tobacco industry’s gap between image and reality to that of SUV’s; stating that the cause and consequences of climate change resemble smoking and cancer. Simms comparison between SUV’s and cigarettes shows how dangerous he believes SUV’s are.
Sports Utility Vehicles have long maintained the reputation of being gas guzzlers and detrimental to the environment. In the article, “Why Environmentalists Attack the SUV,” Mr. John Bragg presents the argument that the SUV is a symbol of Americanism. While it is easy to understand his thinking, it is largely based upon subjective reasoning. Conversely, the SUV.org article, “Environmental Double Standards for Sport Utility Vehicles,” postulates that SUV’s represent a paradox to consumers. Additionally, cartoonist, Khalil Bendib takes a drastic approach by overtly stating that American automotive corporations are directly contributing to the degradation of the environment.
In the July 1997 issue of Commentary, James Q. Wilson challenges the consensus among academia’s finest regarding the automobile in his bold article, Cars and Their Enemies. Directed towards the general public, his article discredits many of the supposed negatives of the automobile raised by experts, proves that the personal car is thriving and will continue to thrive because it meets individual preference over other means of transportation, as well as presents solutions to the social costs of cars. Wilson emphasizes that no matter what is said and done in eliminating the social costs of the automobile, experts are not going to stop campaigning against it.
Flink’s Three stages of American automobile consciousness fully express the progress of the whole automobile industry. From the first model T to the automatic production, it gives me an intuitive feeling of the automobile history from a big picture. On the other hand, Kline and Pinch focus more on a certain group of people--farmers or people who live in the rural area, they use it as an entry point to talk about automobile, alone with the role and duty transition between male and
One of the differentiation strategies used by BMW is the creation of auto products that consumers can emotionally relate to. In building the BMW brand, the company has succeeded in positioning its products as prestigious or luxurious. Therefore, most consumers want to own a BMW car solely for the prestige it gives them. BMW products are not only purchased due to their usability or functionality but for the status they give the owner. Subsequently, when a person buys a BMW product, they are emotionally attached not just to the car but to the brand as a whole. This has created increased brand loyalty in BMW growing its customer base as more people search for the status associated with the company’s products.
Much like Americans, Europeans often use the size and brand of their cars as a status symbol. For most Europeans though, a smaller car is much more practical. Unlike mos...
Nearly 100 years ago, man gave birth, without the aid of a woman, to his own startlingly ugly little creation. And much like woman does, he has been taking that ugly creation and sticking it in other's faces, and asking "Isn't it beautiful?" or some variation thereof. After a few forty-odd years or so of evolution, a genuine automotive culture sprang up that's as American as, well, a Chevrolet.
Transport systems play a crucial part in a nation’s socio-economic growth. Movements of people, goods and information have always been fundamental components of human societies. Transport represents one of the most significant human activities worldwide. It forms valuable links between regions and economic activities, between people and the rest of the world. Public transportation, by definition, is a shared passenger transport service which is available for use by the general public. It includes any vehicle that can be rented by more than one person at once and the same time. As compared to travelling through private vehicles, public transportation reduces traffic congestion, gasoline consumption, and carbon footprint; enhances economic and personal opportunities, among all others.
The style and value of the car had slightly developed leading to an increase in the usefulness of the car. This topic is worthy of study because there are many teens that want a car today, but don’t understand the hassle of maintaining a car. Cars are not the only available and reliable form of transportation. We just desire the car over all other forms of transportation. It was just a desire then as well too. It was nothing more or nothing less than a desire. Every man desired to have a better car than the person next door to them. It was a competition. It is a piece of material that grew to the heart of
The car has been a symbol of the American mainstream culture since it’s prominent introduction to our society by Henry Ford with his mass-produced Model T, a car built for the masses. From the numerous countertops, hotels, and souvenir stands that dot the scenic landscape of Route 66 to cars speeding their way down the elevated West Side Highway the effects of the car culture although initially meant to be positive have come with more than monetary costs to our planet, and the United States with externalized costs from the social implications to the environmental crisis
Most of cities that people live are sequentially growing, daily routine of many people are also adapted for surrounding in the present. A lot of people have to spend most of their time with travelling though long distances to get from one place to another for connecting their businesses or other purposes by transportation. Most people use public transportation such as BTS and MRT to go each places while many people are using their own cars to travel. Thereby, both transportations have the same destination that is taking and moving people. People can choose vehicles from alter reasons depend on how people are responded to their needs by public transportation and private car that are different in convenience of travelling, expenditure of money and security of travel.
In the introduction, Hugh Mackay explains what is understood under the term cultural consumption, and gives an interdisciplinary and historical overview of the most significant approaches to consumption, their accomplishments and weaknesses. He outlines what contribution this book has to offer to the study of consumption and everyday life, summarizes each chapter briefly, and discusses what they have in common, and in which respect they are differentiated from each other.
...quently our own personal development. Transport as a technology is one I take for granted in my daily life and with the new insight I have developed through this essay I hope to become even more aware of the way which technology is having such a powerful effect on our actions as people, shaping how we, our cities and our peers interact with one another. We take technology for granted in an ever changing world where miracles are created every day, and I hope we do not take it for granted to much longer as one only realizes what they need most when it all falls to ruins. My experiences with transport in a modern world have taught me to take convenience with pleasure and efficiency at a last resort, something now which I hope will change in the near future.