Car Culture   RoadKill.gif (308 bytes)

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"The model American male spends more than 1,500 hours per year on his car; driving or sitting in it, parking or searching for it; earning enough to pay for the vehicle, the tolls, the tires, the insurance or highway taxes."   --Ivan Illich, February 1974, The Ecologist

TextMiller.gif (1060 bytes)  Assigned outside reading

BallBlu.gif (967 bytes)  Miller, pp. 90-92; 102-103

SeeFilm9.gif (462 bytes)  Video shown in class

BallBlu.gif (967 bytes)  Taken for a Ride  (c. 53 min.)

ReadOnln.gif (285 bytes)  Assigned online reading

BallBlu.gif (967 bytes)  U.S. Auto Culture and the Environment -- about the auto's environmental and energy impacts (tutorial by T. Detwyler). [600 words]

WhiteBag2gif.gif (942 bytes)  How, under corporate capitalism, several big companies have monopolized markets, degrading our environment:  Monopoly of U.S. Ground Transport by the "Big 3"  [800 words]

WhiteBag2gif.gif (942 bytes)  How, under capitalism, corporations have bought public ideology, causing environmental stress:  Selling the Car Culture through Advertising  [800 words]

LightsAnim1textJ.gif (6373 bytes)        Picture (104x96, 6.2Kb)
Drive to work... Honk if you love...

Q-Write.gif (1242 bytes)  Questions to answer concerning the car culture:

1.  Give at least five examples to illustrate how numerous Americans have designed their communities and lives around the car (from personal observation).

2.  Name five major "external costs" of motor vehicles (from personal observation and thought).

3.  Briefly characterize the automobile's impacts on each of the following elements of U.S. environment:  (a) urban land-use; (b) natural resource use; (c) solid wastes; (d) air quality; (e) energy use.

4.  How did the monopoly (or oligopoly) of U.S. ground transport by the Big Three evolve?  In your answer include key company names, events, dates, and processes.

5.  In the 1930s and 1940s, what specific corporate interests were behind National City Lines (NCL), and how did NCL affect urban transportation in many U.S. cities?  [Information in video, Taken for a Ride]

6.  How was General Motors punished for its criminal conspiracy involving  U.S. ground transportation (which has been called "the economic crime of the century")?  [Information in video, Taken for a Ride]

7.  What notable highway developments occurred in the 1950s?   In connection with these, describe the movement of two key individuals through the "revolving door" from corporate positions (and private interests) to government posts (ostensibly to serve public interests)?  [Information in video, Taken for a Ride]

8.  What major interests dominate the "highway lobby"?  [Information in video, Taken for a Ride]

9.  According to motor vehicle advertisements, what human "needs" can the "right" car (i.e., the kind in the ad) fulfill beyond mere transport from one place to another?  --Give six specific examples.

10.  What are "intelligent vehicle systems" and why is highway lobby pushing them as the future of U.S. ground transportation?  [Information in video, Taken for a Ride]

11.  Do you think it will be possible in coming decades for the U.S. to sustain its present degree of dependence on highway transportation?  Why or why not?

12.  What transportation alternatives do you think should be central in U.S. strategy to solve many of the current problems?

13.  What might you do-- both personally and politically-- to help solve U.S. transportation problems?

Car-Bump.jpg (18861 bytes)
Courtesy of AdBusters REF

Worth perusing! --

Optional resources concerning the car culture

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Thomas Detwyler maintains this page (tdetwyle@uwsp.edu)
Last updated 8 June 2001