Sociology

Americans have been in love with cars for nearly a century now. Over the decades, the infatuation has turned into serious addiction. Car is an accessory of affluence, and has become one of the key symbols of the Western society in general, but it is particularly associated with America. It would be impossible to conceive American society without cars. However, let us imagine the impossible as a thought exercise a hypothetical scenario of cities and towns across America without the car as a personal mode of transport.  How would the absence of car affect the society What sort of changes would it entail on the attitudes of common people Such a situation would of course be very complex with manifold aspects to it. Let us briefly explore some of these now.

Before we do so, however, we must first establish some possible context for the sudden disappearance of the car. Lets say, the global warming situation on the planet has become very serious, and all the countries of the world are required to do whatever they could to drastically cut down carbon emissions in order to ensure the survival of humanity, and America has decided to lead the path toward restoration of the earths environmental balance. As a part of this process, cars would be rapidly phased out and public transport would proliferate. How would people cope with such a situation How would they adapt to it

American culture has been all about independence, individuality and pursuit of personal happiness. But requiring people all of a sudden to travel and commute only by public means of transportation such as buses and trains would greatly strain this fundamental ethos of American culture. This could, however, have many beneficial influences too. It could create a balance between individualism and collectivism. Just as an overly strong emphasis on the collective enterprise overshadowing the individual initiative is an unhealthy trend, the vice versa, i.e., vehemently stressing the individual initiative while neglecting the group synergy could be seen as not a wholly healthy way of life. Over the decades and centuries, individualism has become deeply entrenched in the American psyche, there is no doubt about it. Americans are fiercely individualistic  but it could do us some good if we chip away some of this individualism in favor of promoting a collective ethic, thereby tempering one thing with the other.

Whether voluntary or not, the gesture of sacrificing some comfort and convenience in order to help create a better future for mankind will have a dramatic impact on the collective consciousness, a new notion of collective effort would rapidly emerge and spread. The majority of people would not, understandably, like the enormous sacrifices they are required to make, but at the same time, considering the bigger picture and the role they have to play in it, most people would try to come to terms with the new realities. In the process, American culture itself would change. Individualism is the very identity of American culture and it forms the core of our social values, and there is no need for individualism to wane simply because cars have disappeared. Individualism would still be one of our most cherished values, only, our version of individualism would have matured and mellowed considerably, it would be the kind of individualism which could accommodate more of the group spirit.

Of course, any society by definition must include and accommodate a considerable degree of collective ethic, but giving up cars for the sake of the planets environment and would take collective ethic to a wholly new level. An America without cars could have much in common with the America of the Second World War. People are required to give up much by way of freedom and comfort so as to make the nation stronger in the face of the enemy. While such times are difficult, they could be exciting too. The collective initiative would forge a greater bond between people, and many people could be proud of the small contribution they are making to avert great disasters from happening. Just as war times bring out new and possibly unsuspected reserves of courage, energy and determination from the people of a proud nation, the great fight for the global environmental wellbeing would bring out and foster the essential human spirit within us, the thing that binds us with our fellow people. Not only would we have a heightened sense of collective endeavor at the national level, but since this is essentially a global drive, there would emerge a marked spirit of oneness with all the nations and peoples of the earth.

If scientists were to tell us tomorrow that a huge asteroid is going to collide with the planet very soon, and that all the nations of the world have to join hands and put in great efforts on a project to repulse this asteroid, we can imagine what kind of spirit and unity such a call for urgent action would invoke among all the people of the world. Similarly, a situation of acute environmental crisis requiring extreme measures such as the abolition of the personal car can have several positive influences in the manner it spurs a sense of common purpose among vast sections of people.

In this world, freedom and responsibility go together. While the car is undoubtedly a potent symbol of personal freedom, people would realize more and more that they are living in times that place great focus on collective responsibility. People would gradually overcome the heavy resentment they might have initially experienced for forcibly giving up their cars. People would learn to see this  and perhaps many other depriving measures that would be accompanying the abolition of cars in humanitys desperate bid to save the planet  in a more positive light. Many people would be compelled to change their whole outlook of life, whereas earlier they have mostly lived for themselves and their family, now their lives have a vastly bigger context. Instead of mourning the loss of the personal conveyance, a great number of people could get over the massive physical constraint it would impose and could actually be exhilarated at the new found freedom of mind.

Cars are (or were) instruments of movement and freedom, but the broad mindset that generally goes with owning and using one or more cars could be a rather limited and a limiting one. A car is not only a symbol of freedom, but very often it is also a symbol of ego and personal power. The problem with the ego is that while it could be normal and healthy in some ways, in fact a very essential thing underpinning our concept of civilization and progress, it could be detrimental and dangerous in other ways and especially when it exceeds certain limits. Abandoning of car can be seen as a blow to our egos, but at the same time it can also be seen as opening up new avenues for ways of thinking that are less burdened with the ego. People could experience this as a new liberating feeling where they are encouraged to transcend themselves and their petty lives. The ego has strong tendencies toward pettiness, and being loosened from the smothering grip of the ego could mean the disappearance of various forms of pettiness from peoples lives, e.g., jealousy, envy, impatience, intolerance and so on. A very interesting thing here is that one healthy tendency could trigger another healthy tendency and a cascade of positive changes could set in.

Physical health levels would dramatically improve too. Today, obesity and various allied illnesses, all caused by a sedentary lifestyle, have become a major curse on our society. But the absence of car would necessitate cycling and walking in significant amounts, and this would have dramatic impact on the state of our health and the shape of our body. Again, this could be just the beginning of many healthy trends where we learn to reorient ourselves to our bodies and learn to enjoy doing physical work, just as the pioneers of this land did.

Economically too, people would make considerable savings accruing from the differences between purchasing, using, and maintaining a car or two and using cheap public conveyance. These savings could be prudently put to use in ways that can cause much larger benefits, for example, via right investments or buying good books and so on.

Today, the levels of our students competence of math and science are alarmingly diminishing however in a car-less society when everybody is feeling the sharp pinch of the lack of cars, there would be much greater incentive for young students to more enthusiastically study science-related subjects in order to find alternative and viable fuel solutions.

In short, the sudden absence of car could galvanize the society as a whole to move in the direction of positive change. As ironical as it may seem, it could jumpstart a whole revolution for the greater good.