SOC317H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Lowrider, Path Dependence, Railway Electrification System
Document Summary
Car culture: many male students tend to give a lot of thought to car purchases. By 2011, there were an estimated billion cars on the road a number that doubled from 25 years prior (newman. Cars are also closely linked to race and ethnicity. The car you drive also speaks to your social class: cars are what best calls status conferring objects (2006: 4). Think of the freedom many teenagers feel when they first get their license, and are able to go out driving with their friends (and not their parents!). Imagine the freedom of barreling down the highway on a road trip, sun shining, windows down, tunes blaring. Yet the freedom to drive is a paradoxical kind of freedom. Most obviously, driving a car is far from free; having a car requires money, and a considerable amount of it: even when we can afford a car, it is unclear how much freedom we have to drive.
