Car Culture

Cars and landscapes, in which they exist, have proven to be  central to human life from the most intimate to the wider sense of global crisis. Car culture has been observed to be able to inspire epic passions from road rage in the UK to the struggles of driving cabs in Africa, as well as the emergence of the black identity in America. This essay focuses on the essence of cars related to humanity that incorporate jealousy, differences in gender, fears and moralities, which are associated with car culture (Miller 1).

Gender difference is the important element in the car culture as featured on road accidents, injuries, and death. Currently, road safety education lacks the adequate way of understanding and responding. Car culture constructions describe masculinity to be the center of the problem. This literature search focuses on the car culture to indicate how risk-laden car culture emphasizes the masculine powers of men and excludes women, who are attracted to the working class male (Miller 3).

Car culture has its origin in the US and has contributed to the increase of individualism and decrease of social interactions between people of different socio-economic classes. However, the love affair with cars is not purely the American phenomenon since in various parts of the world consumers are racing to purchase bigger and more luxurious cars. For instance, automobiles form a crucial part of the global transportation system. Car culture has created difficulty in the creation of sustainable urban transport, particularly as the consumer demands call for size and horsepower, as compared to mobility or sustainability. When cars get so culturally valued, instead of being functionally important, it creates more difficulties in applying the necessary reforms for sustainable transport.

Motor vehicle provides convenience, as well as unprecedented mobility. In addition, cars have destructive effects on people and the environment. Motor vehicles have killed many people in the world, and due to these accidents, many countries have spent millions of dollars to build better roads.

Furthermore, cars have many things to do with land loss, air pollution, and climate change. The innovation of automobiles took several years and in 1885 the first car was made. The car culture reached its maturity after the World War II. However, the political, economic and social frameworks, which affected the culture, were in place long before the WW II. Currently, cars have had a significant effect on the culture of the middle class (Mackenzie et al 23).

Since the early years of automobile, car manufactures and automobile fuel supplies lobbied governments to build roads under the influence of Keynesian-style political ideologies. For instance, in the UK there had been massive road building projects, which were initiated by a number of various social democratic governments after the WWII, in an attempt to create jobs and make cars available to the working class. From 1970’s onwards the promotion of cars and other automobiles was seen as a trait by some conservatives. This was observed as a great car economy that led to an increased government spending on roads.

Cars culture has developed two distinct personalities of people. The first personality perceived cars as friendly and attractive assets. On the other hand, second personality sees the cars as very destructive machines that can be lethal to human beings. Thus, the quest to own cars is linked to pleasure, sexuality, convenience as well as freedom. Men have lust for attractive and big cars; these prestigious cars indicate that men have lust for women, as women also have the desire for men with luxurious and big cars. Furthermore, car culture illustrates how men are interested in power and performance and want to know something about car engines. Furthermore, car culture has the attribute that is well presented in societies, where women are not considered as equal partners in car cultures across social classes. For instance, during the early 19th century, the situation did not change as cars became cheaper and more women were able to get an opportunity to drive a car. During 1920’s cars seemed to have significant impact  on the family behavior, both on the families, which owned a car, and on the families that never owned one. Hence, cars were a major source of friction in the middle class families.

Cars impose a lot of expenses and insecurity on people, since the drivers are exposed to risk because they have put their investments in roads, where they can be attacked by robbers. This kind of insecurity may lead to selfish behaviors and refined middle class financial violence, which is caused by the emergence of middle class citizens that can be translated to affairs of individuals that possess the car culture.

Cars became as much a measure of failure as it is a symbol of success. However, it has been noted that there is something wrong in logic,  because apparently either non-serious women had the influence on car sales or serious men would like to have the same sentiments. Women in general are less serious about the car culture, as opposed to men, who are very romantic. This is attributed to the nature of men, who tend to impute to cars more value  compared to women, yet they have increasingly selected cars to please women due to their faltering male ego.

Many men have made their cars be the art objects and spent many weekends on some sort of religious ceremonies of polishing the cars. This has been seen in car wash, in which men have made to be some form to the national institution or the club for young men having very few women workers. Another stylistic revolution of car culture is in car credits that have changed over time due to advertisements. Due to modern technology of car manufacturing, both men and women have tried to keep up-to-date with modern car models.

The women’s point of view concerning the car culture has been heard more frequently as an increasing number of women entered into the car manufacturing industry. By 1970’s women began to be employed in the car manufacturing industry but most of them have continued to occupy lower positions with low pay compared to men but some of the older stereotypes concerning women began to disappear. Most women do not like the car speed for its own sake. Currently, women hold responsible positions in the car manufacturing companies that formerly would have gone to their male partners.

However, as much as people like cars for comfort, prestige and as a symbol of wealth, there are many effects that cars have on the environment. For instance, the fumes that are emitted from the car exhaust pipes contain gases that can pose a threat to the environment. These fumes contain green house gases, such as carbon monoxide and have the ability to block the sun rays that are reflected from the earth’s surface, hence cause temperature changes. Through this, the car culture is the major contributor to global warming. Due to the increase in the number of cars that are being manufactured and bought by consumers, the increase of temperature continues globally.

The current models of cars are manufactured to achieve efficient fuel combustion, but with time, cars undergo wear and tear. Due to this, car engine fails to function properly, hence results in the emission of toxic substances in the atmosphere. The pollutants that are generated by cars may cause health damages to humans and affect the environment. For instance, some of the health effects to man include respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer. Furthermore, these toxic substances are lethal to plants and animals which form a very crucial part of the ecosystem (The Great Car Culture).

Among the greatest impacts of car pollution is the depletion of the ozone layer, which prevents the harmful ultra violet radiation from reaching the atmosphere. These harmful radiations can lead to many diseases such as skin cancer, melanoma, as well as to contribute to genetic makeup of living organisms. In addition, car culture may also lead to pollution from cars that may negatively affect drinking water, when pollutants from smoke or fumes  reacts with rain water,  leading to acid rain. This acid rain further gets its way into water bodies. In addition, water pollution may occur when oil that leaks from cars, mixes with storm water and pollutes the natural sources of water. Noise pollution also occurs from an increased decibel levels from cars. Noise pollution causes a lot of disturbance to living organisms and the environment. Particularly the ecological and many living creatures have had behavioral effects due to high noise levels from cars. Furthermore, noise pollution from cars can cause various health effects on man such as high blood pressure and mental disturbance.

Cars occupy the major portion of our cities and urban centers; there is the likelihood that land pollution arises from the heavy reliance on cars. Therefore, it is important to change attitudes about the car culture in order to reduce pollution levels in the environment. Cars are causing a lot of consumption; since they are designed to make men feel better than others by showing women that the owners are desirable males. Thus, the transport role of cars is viewed as secondary, since the point is not to travel but to be seen traveling, or not to travel faster but to be seen as having the option to travel, (The Great Car Culture).

In conclusion, the car culture evolved over time and is controlled by some kind of rational overview. Never did anyone decide that power should be available in some unlimited amounts since it just happened. Hence, it is important for car manufacturers to supply in the industry what car buyers are able to afford. Car models should be able to meet the environmental standards to control pollution, for instance having small cars but with high performance engines. Consequently, supercar models have no benefit to civilization that makes them come to existence; they impose a lot of harm on resources and contribute to the perception of inequality and unfairness in the society.

Cars have caused fragmentation in the neighborhoods and has led to the reduction in human interactions in various ways, for instance, the mobility culture has imposed on man general implications on the sociability of the culture, which includes various kinds of pollution that arises from car use. Also the car culture can also lead to impunity as victims of accident may get away with murder. Cars have a greater role in increasing consumerism, as well as contributing to inequality in the society that is associated with growth in wealth and disparity in communities. The use of automobiles consumes a large part of income earned by individuals. However, the concept of the car culture has been promoted and is clearly evident in huge subsidies that are bestowed on consumers to make them drive in most places cheaply and most efficiently. It is not easy to ascertain the true cost of driving a car, since their disclosure may cause a reduction in car use, hence leading to incompatibility with the interest of petroleum firms, car manufacturing firms as well as road construction. In addition, car culture has also led to the large portion of increased healthcare costs that occur as the result of car accidents. Furthermore, the environmental degradation that results from the car use is impossible to calculate and has become certainly insignificant.