Abstract:
In this PH.D-project, I address, what I call, the risks of automobilization.
I ask why motorization,
noise and air pollution, the degradation of the environment and the
destruction of urban and rural
landscapes are still increasing, despite the fact that both “experts”
and “non-experts” have acquired
knowledge about the causes and reasons of such threats. In order to
reveal the hidden mechanisms
behind the reflexive actions of both transport “experts” and “non-experts”
and in order to reveal
how the risks of automobilization are socially constructed, I refer
to the German concept of the
“Leitbild”2 . The Leitbild as an analytical instrument is commonly
used both in the sociology of
technology and science as well as within politics and every-day-life
in Germany. With respect to the
research issue at stake a “mobility Leitbild” expresses a cultural
perspective on spatial mobility and
results from an interference of both expert and lay knowledge on transport
and mobility. In other
words it is just as much a product of reflexive processes amongst the
actors within transport and
mobility as it shapes and underpins the social and cultural construction
of automobilization risks.
For the purpose of unfolding the expansion of one out of many possible
mobility Leitbilder in
Denmark, I will focus on the Danish Automobile Owners Association (Forenede
Danske Motorejere
– FDM). In order to show how a particular type of mobility Leitbild
has expanded and how this
Leitbild has formed the responses towards the risks of automobilization,
I refer to FDM’s monthly
magazine MOTOR. Apart from an analysis of relevant articles found in
the issues from 1962 to
1997, the focus of the empirical work lies on the title pages of MOTOR.
By employing qualitative
and quantitative methods of picture analysis, I intend to show how
the social construction of
automobilization risks is intertwined with the mobility Leitbild of
this club.
Forfatter:
Jörg Beckmann, Sociologisk Institut, Københavns Universitet
Keywords:
automobilization, risks, reflexivity, leitbild, visual sociology, expert
systems
Session:
Transport og adfærd
År:
1999