Hi! Here is our first paper. It was submitted by Kate Goodwin:
Agency in Automobility: Delinking Gasoline, Cars, and Mobility
Katherine Goodwin | Presented at ISA-NE, October 3, 2009
Abstract:
Automobility, the global system of human movement built around petroleum-fueled cars, clearly has significant negative environmental consequences. Yet transforming this system presents a nearly overwhelming technological, cultural, and political challenge. The production of oil and cars is fundamental to modern capitalism and is a source of geopolitical power, while the consumption of these goods intimately structures the lives of billions worldwide. This article offers a conceptualization of the challenge presented by automobility. It argues that automobility operates according to a socially constructed logic linking gasoline, cars, and mobility to human flourishing. Using examples of industry decisions, public policy adjustments, and shifts in cultural meanings, this article illustrates that automobility has never been inevitable nor its future assured. Rather, its logic has been constructed and is continually reconstructed through human agency.
You can access the full paper here
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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