Driving cultures : cars, young people and cultural research

Driving Cultures brings a cultural approach to an area dominated by psychological analyses of individual behaviour and frameworks of understanding that focus on rational behaviour and wilfulness.2 Such forms of analysis, I argue here, are inadequate for a proper understanding of driving practice as they lack sufficient connection to the broader context of driving, the symbolic dimensions of the car and a detailed understanding of the social norms operating within driving as a cultural practice. In Car Wars, for example, Graeme Davison gives a comprehensive account of the political manoeuvrings in Melbourne that brought about an increased emphasis on car travel there.7 Davison documents the rising appeal of the car and outlines the lobbying by motoring groups that emphasised the ideology of freedom, and the dominance of government departments related to roads and motor vehicle regulation, over those dealing with public transport.