What does driving a Honda Element say about me?

Auto Mania

Bianca Fernandez

3/3/09

Cathy Stanton

I realized upon completion of this book that I had never actually considered how shaped by automobiles society has been and how shaped by society automobiles have been. The sheer level of connection between politics, pop culture, science and technology and sociological/anthropological studies that can each be tied to automobiles and the automotive industry is astounding. I will never be able to see (or not see) cars in the same way again.

Close to my heart of the above mentioned areas of study have always been sociology and anthropology, and so the references to automobiles from that perspective – specifically the relation to socioeconomic class and status- were of particular interest. I loved learning both about the early millionaires who were likened to morphine addicts. Also fascinating was the massive and successful marketing campaign which shifted social norms about “the family car” to “the personal car.” I found this to be both brilliant and disturbing. It’s so funny to consider widely accepted social mores that we just accept as a part of daily life and then draw back the lens, examine where that assumption comes from and say “wow…”

The discussion about baby boomers and what was expected to be their spending and consumerism trends versus what it actually was (the mass purchasing of light-duty trucks) was mind blowing! It is such a great example of human nature. Despite living through war times, gas shortages, and the creation of the EPA and pollution controls they wanted large, inefficient, expensive, gas guzzling monsters and they were not apologetic. This is such a beautiful illustration of human nature.

I enjoyed reading this book. While it is not something I would have ever chosen on my own time, it was informative and I thought the wide breadth of topics from a cross section of disciplines was great. There was certainly a way for almost any type of person, with any level of interest to engage in the book and in McCarthy’s ideas. Something that truly spoke to me in my reading was in his introduction:

This is not an angry book. We don’t need another angry book about automobiles, a perspective neither new nor helpful. There are many wonderful things about being an American in the twentieth century. Having cars and driving were certainly among them. Automakers that work hard to sell their cars to consumers are not evil. Self-interested and oblivious consumers are not evil. But the two together do pose problems for the environment… p.XX

This for me best summed up what I imagine McCarthy to be like as a person and

what he was really trying to get across through the writing of this book. There were no judgments handed down from high, no standing on soap boxes, just the sharing of information for information’s sake. It is rare to find this type of dissemination and I cannot imagine a better introduction to a class than this. I so look forward to what will come next.