The Enigma of Automobility: Democratic Politics and Pollution Control (Pitt Series in Policy and Institutional Studies) [Paperback]

Sudhir Chella Rajan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pitt Series in Policy and Institutional Studies | Publication Date: December 15, 1996

Rajan investigates air pollution policy as one based on how to make cars less polluting. Putting the onus on auto manufacturers and owners has generated an elaborate scheme of emissions testing and pollution-control devices, and does not look at the technology itself as the heart of the problem. Rajan focuses his study on data collected in Los Angeles, to show how emissions testing burdens the poor, who tend to own older cars that pollute more. Rajan argues for democratic control over technology, steering it away from special interest groups and toward a long-term ethical resolution.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“To deal with the social disorders created by car dependency requires some common understanding, agreement and collective action. . . . Rajan points out cogently that any form of regulation which targets high-emission vehicles will tend to fall disproportionately on the poor, who are forced to rely on the oldest, most poorly serviced cars. . . . Rajan succeeds in conveying some of the tangled intractability of this overarching problem.”
—Times Literary Supplement

“A critical analysis of an increasingly important approach to the problem of automobile pollution:  the effort to identify the relatively small number of vehicles with inadequate or defective pollution control devices. . . . The most polluting vehicles are also the oldest and therefore the least expensive. Not surprisingly, they tend to be disproportionately owned by less affluent, often nonwhite motorists. . . . By placing both the blame and the burdens of compliance on them, we conveniently avoid having to come to grips with the broader social implications of our structural dependence on the automobile for urban transportation.”
—Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

“Rajan's work adds to the growing chorus calling for a shift of focus away from limited technological fixes, to the social and political factors which sustain burgeoning automobility. . . . An excellent account of the limitations of technology-political and social, as well as technical limitations—in dealing with automobility.”
—Capitalism Nature Socialism

About the Author

Sudhir Chella Rajan is professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press; 1 edition (December 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822956063
• ISBN-13: 978-0822956068
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,807,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent analysis, June 15, 2002

By 

Muna Hijazi (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Enigma of Automobility: Democratic Politics and Pollution Control (Pitt Series in Policy and Institutional Studies) (Paperback)

This book provides an excellent examination of car culture in the U.S., making strikingly original points about the connection between cars and our personal, social, and political lives. Rajan's analysis is both incredibly deep and thorough, and will change the way you look at your life in your car (if it doesn't make you flat out give it up.)