The making of driving cultures

Culture matters. It is the mechanism through which we come to understand ourselves and our relationship to the world. In the U.S., cars and driving are intimately connected to our individual and collective sense of self—who we are, what we believe, value, and aspire to achieve, and how we interact with others. From the promise of Herbert Hoover’s 1928 presidential campaign slogan, “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage,” to conflicting portrayals of the sport utility vehicle as a means to experience nature or as a “gas guzzling” status symbol, the car and driving have always referenced the American experience of and desire for freedom, individualism, self-realization, prosperity, and progress.