Car Troubles

Critical Studies of Automobility and Auto-Mobility

By: Jim Conley, Arlene Tigar McLaren (Editor)

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Hardcover | 28 July 2009 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
274 Pages

Edition Type
New edition

Dimensions(cm)
23.4 x 15.6 x 1.6

Hardcover

RRP $336.00

$289.75

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Bringing together an international and multi-disciplinary team of leading tranportation scholars, this book's central premise is that the car as the dominant mode of travel needs to be problematised. It 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. With contributors primarily from North America, and several from Britain and New Zealand, the book focuses on the Anglo world, but also takes account of the global phenomenon of automobility by considering the cases of China and Chile. With each contributor referencing other chapters and taking, for example, opposing positions on a question, or different approaches to the same subject matter, the volume provides a coherent and comprehensive analysis of issues. The first section sets the stage by examining significant cultural meanings of automobility. The chapters range from a focus on auto-mobility culture enacted by specific groups, to the collective representations of car ads, and the material culture of automobility. The second section addresses various strategies for regulating the dangers and risks of automobility, including the intervention of states, automakers and local communities. The third section highlights political contestations over automobility and raises the question of its inevitability. Chapters here range from an examination of local politics in Altanta, Georgia to national development strategies in Chile, to a theoretical analysis of the role of state and corporate power in making automobile travel 'compulsory'. The final section revisits issues raised in the previous sections by examining obstacles to change based in status dynamics, the worldwide expansion of auto hegemony, and the 'locking-in' of automobility; and considers the possibility of alternatives that go beyond the car.

Industry Reviews

'This collection of lively and engaging studies drives home to devastating effect and from different political, material, cultural and social directions, the fundamental contradiction of the car; that it destroys the very environment it makes accessible.' Tim Dant, University of Lancaster, UK 'Car Troubles shows brilliantly how far we have come since Wolfgang Sachs claimed that the "problem with the automobile is that the automobile is not a problem". It gives rich, diverse insights into our problematisation of the car, and into the complex politics of dealing with the problems cars cause.' Matthew Paterson, University of Ottawa, Canada

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