More on America and the Car

Last week in the first installment of our series Nona Willis Aronowitz looked at America’s faltering love affair with the car. Fewer men see cars as a key way to define their identity, technology has become a new focus of conspicuous consumption, energy prices are (at least usually) high and in many big cities cars simply aren’t necessary. Today, in part two of our series, we look at the other side of the equation. Outside of a few big cities – and in many cases even within them – a car (something that is often out of reach for the working poor) remains a key element of economic survival or the possibility of decent life. Read part two here.