Public avenues to private spaces: Democratic politics and the control of automobile pollution
Automobile pollution policy is an institutional concern because it represents the political problem of addressing one of the ill-effects of mass driving within urban regions. In the United States, where automobility is most pervasive, the social and cultural institutions that make driving an ineluctable feature of everyday life tend to be taken for granted. On the one hand, an idealogy of individualism appears to forestall critical discussion on these aspects within civil society; on the other, reliance on technological solutions and a prevailing culture of interest-group politics help contract the space for normative reasoning within policy discourse. Ironically, though, the more people drive, the more [open quotes]auto[close quotes]-inflicted the problems of air pollution, and the more likely it is that the contradictions of these non-participatory and technocratic forms could generate crises of policy. The predicament of automobile pollution policy then comprises a paralysis in the state's continued capacity to response to what it perceives to be a double-gesture made by its citizens; they demand clean air but are unwilling to take responsibility for achieving it, especially if it involves setting limits on automobile usage. Using both theoretical arguments and empirical and historical evidence from California, this dissertation argues that official readings of automobile pollution control are constricted because they rely on an individualist metaphor which only generates elaborate techniques of risk management in response, thus moving away from a shared public effort towards normative discourse. Yet, it its also critical of approaches that would shift the blame to individual motorists and their vehicles by implying that the problem arises from the employment of a few [open quotes]gross emitters[close quotes] that need to be selectively targeted.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Los Angeles, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 6584634
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
HUMAN FACTORS
AUTOMOBILES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
PUBLIC OPINION
CONTROL
POLLUTION CONTROL
VEHICLES
290300* - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety
290202 - Energy Planning & Policy- Sociology- (1992-)
540120 - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)