Summary - TST 17
TRANSPORTES, SERVICIOS Y TELECOMUNICACIONES
Federico Paolini
A Country on four wheels. The car and society in Italy (1900-1974)
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Key Words:
Vehicles; demand analysis; leisure; mobility; private
consumption; model of society.
[ Abstract ]
The rapid growth of private transport in Italy was prompted by a number of factors. Literature has often privileged the notion that the diffusion of the automobile was encouraged by political choices, according to the idea that the choice of “asphalt over rail” contributed to the creation of a transportation system essentially based on the automobile. Undoubtedly the automobile industry took advantage of political choices, but it would be excessive to say the fortunes of the car only due to political decisions. Alongside incipient economic improvement, which enabled families to gain access to new consumer goods, the success of the car can also be ascribed to two connected reasons: practicality and symbolic connotations. Utilitarian motivations played a primary role: the automobile freed the individual from the inconvenience and rigidity of public transport, saved time and money, and it could be used freely for various purposes. No other means had ever offered such a fl exibility of use. We should not, however, underestimate the cultural motivations, including hedonism and personal gratifi cation. The car was felt as a means for joining post-war society in full, since the speed and the freedom granted by the car acquired a strong psichological connotation.
[ Abstract ]
The rapid growth of private transport in Italy was prompted by a number of factors. Literature has often privileged the notion that the diffusion of the automobile was encouraged by political choices, according to the idea that the choice of “asphalt over rail” contributed to the creation of a transportation system essentially based on the automobile. Undoubtedly the automobile industry took advantage of political choices, but it would be excessive to say the fortunes of the car only due to political decisions. Alongside incipient economic improvement, which enabled families to gain access to new consumer goods, the success of the car can also be ascribed to two connected reasons: practicality and symbolic connotations. Utilitarian motivations played a primary role: the automobile freed the individual from the inconvenience and rigidity of public transport, saved time and money, and it could be used freely for various purposes. No other means had ever offered such a fl exibility of use. We should not, however, underestimate the cultural motivations, including hedonism and personal gratifi cation. The car was felt as a means for joining post-war society in full, since the speed and the freedom granted by the car acquired a strong psichological connotation.