In this article, the sociocultural meanings and social relations and expectations that cohere around `road rage' and serve to invest it with its particular resonance in contemporary Western societies are examined. It is argued that the combination of car and driver in the driving experience produces a cyborg body, which influences the ways in which people experience, perceive and respond to driving and other cars/drivers. But in contemporary societies the expression of such `negative' emotions is problematic and complex. In this context, `road rage' is deemed to evidence loss of appropriate self-control and as `uncivilized'.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allison, T.
and R. Curry (1996) `Introduction: Invitation to Rage', pp. 1-11 in T. Allison and R. Curry (eds) States of Rage: Emotional Eruption, Violence, and Social Change. New York: New York University Press.
2.
Anonymous
(1997) `Women Drivers Get More Like Men', Sydney Morning Herald8December: 3.
3.
Bayley, S.
(1986) Sex, Drink and Fast Cars: The Creation and Consumption of Images. London: Faber and Faber.
4.
Callon, M.
(1991) `Techno-Economic Networks and Irreversibility', pp. 132-161 in J. Law (ed.) A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology and Domination. London: Routledge.
5.
Cohen, S.
and L. Taylor (1992) Escape Attempts: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Everyday Life, 2nd revised edn.London: Routledge.
6.
Craib, I.
(1994) The Importance of Disappointment. London: Routledge.
7.
de Swaan, A.
(1990) The Management of Normality: Critical Essays in Health and Welfare. London: Routledge.
8.
Elias, N.
(1994) The Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell.
9.
Gerhards, J.
(1989) `The Changing Culture of Emotions in Modern Society', Social Science Information28(4): 737-754.
10.
Giddens, A.
(1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity.
11.
Giddens, A.
(1991) Modernity and Self-Identity. Cambridge: Polity.
12.
Graves-Brown, P.
(1997) `From Highway to Superhighway: The Sustainability, Symbolism and Situated Practices of Car Culture', Social Analysis41(1): 64-75.
13.
Gray, C.
and S. Mentor (1995) `The Cyborg Body Politic and the New World Order', pp. 219-247 in G. Brahm and M. Driscoll (eds) Prosthetic Territories: Politics and Hypertechnologies. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
14.
Greenfield, S.
(1996) `Road Rage: The Inside Story', Independent on Sunday7July: 49.
15.
Haug, W.
(1986) Critique of Commodity Aesthetics: Appearance, Sexuality and Advertising in Capitalist Society. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
16.
Latour, B.
(1992) `Where are the Missing Masses? The Sociology of a Few Mundane Artifacts', pp. 225-258 in W. Bijker and J. Law (eds) Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
17.
Law, J.
(1991) `Introduction: Monsters, Machines and Sociotechnical Relations', pp. 1-25 in J. Law (ed.) A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology and Domination. London: Routledge.
18.
Lupton, D.
(1998) The Emotional Self: A Sociocultural Exploration. London: Sage.
19.
Martin, A.
(1994) Phantasms. Ringwood, VI: McPhee Gribble.
20.
Morris, L.
(1996) `Driving them Mad', Sydney Morning Herald3December: 13.
21.
NRMA
(1996) Women, Men, Cars and Driving. Sydney: NRMA Limited.
22.
Richards, B.
(1994) Disciplines of Delight: The Psychoanalysis of Popular Culture. London: Free Association Books.
23.
Seltzer, M.
(1992) Bodies and Machines. New York: Routledge.
24.
Shilling, C.
(1993) The Body and Social Theory. London: Sage.
25.
Sinclair, A.
(1997) `It's All in the Rage', Which Car?April/June: 44-7.
26.
Stearns, P.
(1987) `Men, Boys and Anger in American Society, 1860-1940', pp. 75-91 in J. Mangan and J. Walvin (eds) Manliness and Morality: Middle-Class Masculinity in Britain and America 1800-1940. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
27.
Stearns, C.
and P. Stearns (1986) Anger: The Struggle for Emotional Control in America's History. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
28.
Taylor, C.
(1989) Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29.
Vest, J.
, W. Cohen and M. Tharp (1997) `Road Rage', US News & World Report122(21): 24-30.
30.
Wouters, C.
(1992) `On Status Competition and Emotion Management: The Study of Emotions as a New Field', Theory, Culture & Society9: 229-252.
