The Car-Dependent Society: A European Perspective

Cars are essential in modern Western societies. Some even say that our modern lifestyles would have been impossible without cars. The dependency of Western societies on our cars is a unique situation in history, but does not get much attention; car use is seen as just a normal situation. The population at large knows the risks, knows the disadvantages, experiences the advantages and keeps driving.

Using data from Western Europe, this book examines three key themes: frequent car use, car dependence, and the future of passenger car mobility in societies. In conclusion, in modern Western risk societies, more attention needs to be paid to car dependence, its driving forces, its advantages, its problems and challenges for the future.

Contents: Frequent car use and car dependence in the risk society: an introduction;

Part 1 Setting the Scene: Modern risk society and car mobility; Attitudes and motives for car use; From frequent car use to car dependence.

Part 2 Problems and Perspectives: Frequent car use: energy and sustainability questions; Frequent car use: societal questions; Scenarios for the governance of car mobility; The social and cultural aspects of mobility: towards a research agenda;

Summary and conclusions; Addendum; References; Index.

Review of book by Carlos Carrasco Farré in LSE EuroppBlog, 29.09.13 http://bit.ly/19Mcehy

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