Deck 13: Our Love-Hate Relationship With the Car: Masculinity, Industry, and Environmental Sustainability

Question 1

According to the textbook, which of the following is among the main positive symbolic associations of the car?

A) Freedom
B) Family
C) Duty
D) Affordability

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is a synonym for "automobility"?

A) Car activism
B) Car culture
C) Car ownership
D) Car driving

Answer 2

B

Question 3

After WWII, the U.S. government made house purchases in suburbs more affordable than those in cities, by guaranteeing mortgages in the former, but not the latter. Which of the following features of automobility does this policy exemplify?

A) State ownership
B) Contested nature
C) Systemic character
D) Symbolic power

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Even cities which would like to control traffic congestion find it difficult to do so, because past government decisions have weakened public transit systems and other alternatives to driving. Which of the following phenomena does this exemplify?

A) Functionalism
B) Social structures
C) Social system
D) Path dependence

Question 5

According to the textbook, systematic weakening of public transit systems in the 1930s U.S. was due to actions of:

A) car manufacturers
B) the middle class
C) the government
D) the unions

Question 6

Why is it expected that the rate of car ownership in the global South will increase in the near future?

A) The level of inequalities is expected to increase
B) The middle class is expected to expand
C) The rich are expected to grow richer
D) State regulation of car ownership is expected to cease

Question 7

Research has found that young people appreciate driving primarily because it enables them to:

A) attend remote schools
B) help their parents
C) socialize
D) volunteer

Question 8

In a car culture, driving is to independence as car ownership is to:

A) youthfulness
B) maturity
C) social solidarity
D) success and status

Question 9

A "dream car" is an example of:

A) bridging commodity
B) reference commodity
C) indispensable commodity
D) consumable commodity

Question 10

Which of the following processes enabled the transformation of the car from a luxury item to a widely accessible commodity?

A) Automation
B) Fordism
C) Post-Fordism
D) Post-industrialism

Question 11

Mass production is to mass consumption as flexible production is to:

A) conspicuous consumption
B) elite consumption
C) niche consumption
D) flexible consumption

Question 12

Which of the following is a characteristic of Post-Fordism?

A) Low cost of production
B) High cost of production
C) Low product differentiation
D) High product differentiation

Question 13

The textbook points out that the endurance of the American car industry can be explained by the endurance of its:

A) symbolic power
B) systemic features
C) political influence
D) social utility

Question 14

Which of the following phenomena is relevant both to the treatment of cars as fashion products and to their environmental impact?

A) Premature disposal
B) Mass availability
C) Flexible production
D) Global production chains

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT a focus of post-materialist critique of automobility?

A) Community building
B) Personal growth
C) Saving industrial jobs
D) Environmental sustainability

Question 16

Which of the following is a feature of the sharing economy?

A) Post-materialist attitude
B) Low carbon foot print
C) Community building
D) Short-term rental

Question 17

Sociologist Denis Soron writes that car driving is a form of "compulsory consumption." Explain this statement.

Question 18

Define the critical features of automobility.

Question 19

What is meant by saying that the car facilitates both mobility and immobility?

Question 20

Summarize the main findings of Walsh's study into the representation of women in American car advertising.

Question 21

Compare the conditions of employment in the American car manufacturing during the Fordist and post-Fordist periods of its development.

Question 22

Define post-materialism and give an example of it.