Car Cultures
Car Cultures

Author: Daniel Miller

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-26

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 100018143X

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Anyone who assumes that a car is simply a means to get from point A to point B, or who even thinks that they know what a car is, should read this book. Profoundly shaped by culture, the car gives rise to a wide range of emotions, from guilt about the environment in the UK to aboriginal concerns with car corpses, to struggles to keep the creatures alive with everything but the proper spare parts in West Africa. Cars and their landscapes prove central to human life from its most intimate to the widest sense of global crisis, and are capable of inspiring epic passions. From road rage in Western Europe to the struggles of cab driving in Africa to the emergence of Black identity in the US, this book examines the essential humanity of the car, which includes the jealousies, gender differences, fears and moralities that cars give rise to. Firmly grounded in detailed ethnographic and historical scholarship, this is the first book to provide an informed sense of cars as one of the most familiar and significant forms of material culture.

Car Cultures
Car Cultures

Author: Daniel Miller

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2001-03

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13:

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Anyone who assumes that a car is simply a means to get from point A to point B, or who even thinks that they know what a car is, should read this book. Profoundly shaped by culture, the car gives rise to a wide range of emotions, from guilt about the environment in the UK to aboriginal concerns with car corpses, to struggles to keep the creatures alive with everything but the proper spare parts in West Africa. Cars and their landscapes prove central to human life from its most intimate to the widest sense of global crisis, and are capable of inspiring epic passions. From road rage in Western Europe to the struggles of cab driving in Africa to the emergence of Black identity in the US, this book examines the essential humanity of the car, which includes the jealousies, gender differences, fears and moralities that cars give rise to. Firmly grounded in detailed ethnographic and historical scholarship, this is the first book to provide an informed sense of cars as one of the most familiar and significant forms of material culture.

Car Troubles
Car Troubles

Author: Jim Conley

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9780754677727

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Car Troubles examines a wide range of issues that are central to automobility by situating it within social, economic, and political contexts, and by combining social theory, specific case studies and policy-oriented analysis. It examines obstacles to change and considers the possibility of alternatives that go beyond the car.

The Cultural Life of the Automobile
The Cultural Life of the Automobile

Author: Guillermo Giucci

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2012-05-24

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0292744552

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From its invention in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century, the automobile crisscrossed the world, completely took over the cities, and became a feature of daily life. Considered basic to the American lifestyle, the car reflected individualism, pragmatism, comfort, and above all modernity. In Latin America, it served as a symbol of distinction, similar to jewelry or fine clothing. In The Cultural Life of the Automobile, Guillermo Giucci focuses on the automobile as an instrument of social change through its “kinetic modernity” and as an embodiment of the tremendous social impact of technology on cultural life. Material culture—how certain objects generate a wide array of cultural responses—has been the focus of much scholarly discussion in recent years. The automobile wrought major changes and inspired images in language, literature, and popular culture. Focusing primarily on Latin America but also covering the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa, Giucci examines how the automobile was variously adapted by different cultures and how its use shaped and changed social and economic relationships within them. At the same time, he shows how the “automobilization” of society became an essential support for the development of modern individualism, and the automobile its clearest material manifestation.

Auto Brand
Auto Brand

Author: Anders Parment

Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers

Published: 2014-01-03

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0749469307

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The car - once everybody's dream and a key status symbol in most countries and cultures - has been extensively questioned in the last decades and in the last few years particularly. Urbanisation, traffic congestion, pollution problems, heavy reliance on scarce oil supplies, safety issues and ever-growing competition, have all provided significant business challenges for the automotive industry. Many car manufacturers have had to fundamentally rethink their design, brand and marketing strategies to thrive in a savvy, consumer-led culture, and markets that are becoming increasingly restrictive in size and opportunity. Auto Brand provides a roadmap to branding and marketing success in the automotive industry from a leading industry expert, featuring case studies from major car brands including Audi, BMW, Holden, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Porsche, Saab, Seat, Skoda, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, and Volvo. It includes findings from 100 interviews conducted with CEOs, marketing managers, sales managers and sales people, from manufacturer level to small rural dealers, as well as industry experts, policy makers, free-stranding repair shops and professional organizations. Auto Brand is essential reading for marketing managers, sales managers, CEOs, development managers and dealers in all types of companies in the car industry including: manufacturers, national sales companies/importers, dealers, finance companies, insurance companies, free-standing repair shop channels and more. It is the first book to specifically address how to deal with the challenges facing the automotive industry and illustrates how companies can take advantage of new technologies, adapt to emerging trends in consumer behaviour, improve profitability and build even more successful brands in the future.

In the Company of Cars
In the Company of Cars

Author: Sarah Redshaw

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-09-29

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1317117786

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It has long been accepted that the social and cultural meanings of the car far exceed the practical need for mobility. This book marks the first attempt to contribute to road safety, considering, in depth, these meanings and the cultures of driving that are shaped by them. In the Company of Cars examines the perspectives that young people have on cars, and explores the broader social and cultural meanings of the car, the potential it is supposed to fulfil, and the anticipated benefits it offers to young drivers. From focus-group research conducted in Australia, the book takes up the views of young people on a range of topics, from media to car use to gender performance. The author looks at the ways in which driving has been defined by articulations of the car that emphasize valued features of the car-driver, such as gender, youthfulness, status, age, power, raciness, sexiness, ruggedness and competitiveness. The book takes a global perspective on mobility, considering the impact of cars and road safety policy on quality of life, and the value and significance of other modes of travel, in a range of countries.

Fast Cars, Cool Rides
Fast Cars, Cool Rides

Author: Amy L. Best

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 0814799310

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Drawing on interviews with over 100 young men and women, and five years of research, the author explores the fast-paced world of kids and their cars. She reveals a world where cars have incredible significance for kids, as a means of transportation and thereby freedom to come and go, as status symbols and as a means to express their identities.

Boy Racer Culture
Boy Racer Culture

Author: Karen Lumsden

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-02-11

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 113618435X

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On the public roads boy racers are a foreboding presence, viewed with suspicion and derision by the ‘respectable’ motorist. The problem of the young (male) driver is one which has plagued authorities and governments due to youths’ acclaimed propensity to engage in deviant and dangerous driving behaviours. Boy Racer Culture sheds light on the boy racer phenomenon through ethnographic research with the notorious ‘Bouley Basher’ culture in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, and the moral panic on the part of outside groups including the local community, police, politicians and media. This book examines the creation of masculine and feminine identities in a traditionally male-dominated subculture through car-related rituals such as ‘modding’, subcultural media and events, and the quest for celebrity status via public performances. Boy Racer Culture challenges common misconceptions surrounding the boy racer, the ‘problematic’ young (male) motorist and the car modifier. It will be essential reading for an international audience including sociologists and criminologists, particularly those with an interest in youth culture, subcultures, moral panics, car culture, anti-social behaviour, and the governance and policing of the roads.

National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life
National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life

Author: Tim Edensor

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-15

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 100018367X

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The Millennium Dome, Braveheart and Rolls Royce cars. How do cultural icons reproduce and transform a sense of national identity? How does national identity vary across time and space, how is it contested, and what has been the impact of globalization upon national identity and culture?This book examines how national identity is represented, performed, spatialized and materialized through popular culture and in everyday life. National identity is revealed to be inherent in the things we often take for granted - from landscapes and eating habits, to tourism, cinema and music. Our specific experience of car ownership and motoring can enhance a sense of belonging, whilst Hollywood blockbusters and national exhibitions provide contexts for the ongoing, and often contested, process of national identity formation. These and a wealth of other cultural forms and practices are explored, with examples drawn from Scotland, the UK as a whole, India and Mauritius. This book addresses the considerable neglect of popular cultures in recent studies of nationalism and contributes to debates on the relationship between ‘high' and ‘low' culture.

The Routledge Companion to Automobile Heritage, Culture, and Preservation
The Routledge Companion to Automobile Heritage, Culture, and Preservation

Author: Barry L. Stiefel

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 042975342X

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The Routledge Companion to Automobile Heritage, Culture, and Preservation explores automotive heritage, its place in society, and the ways we might preserve and conserve it. Drawing on contributions from academics and practitioners around the world and comprising six sections, this volume carries the heritage discourse forward by exploring the complex and sometimes intricate place of automobiles within society. Taken as a whole, this book helps to shape how we think about automobile heritage and considers how that heritage explores a range of cultural, intellectual, emotional, and material elements well outside of the automobile body itself. Most importantly, perhaps, it questions how we might better acknowledge the importance of automotive heritage now and in the future. The Routledge Companion to Automobile Heritage, Culture, and Preservation is unique in that it juxtaposes theory with practice, academic approaches with practical experience, and recognizes that issues of preservation and conservation belong in a broad context. As such, this volume should be essential reading for both academics and practitioners with an interest in automobiles, cultural heritage, and preservation.