Cars increase ‘rootedness’

Uni Cal Berkeley sociologist Claude Fisher says that cars have allowed Americans to become more ‘rooted’ to their communities: “When living a couple of miles from one’s job was impractical, changing jobs required changing homes. When half an hour’s drive easily covers a dozen miles, people can change jobs and stay in their homes.”

Fisher’s paper “Ever-More Rooted Americans” presents his work on US census data over the decades and documents how marked has been the trend for Americans to move house less often and stay longer living in the one place.

The automobile is obviously the contrivance which has enlarged the area over which commuting is possible and the enhanced the geograpic spread of jobs (and other opportunities) that people can take advantage of. The enviro simpletons at the Surface Transp Policy Project are always blathering on about the automobile generating ‘rootlessness’ and lessened sense of community. As is often the case they have it 100% wrong. The car enables people to maintain regular friendships over a larger geographic area, and it enables them to keep the same house despite changes of jobs.

Mobility provides big benefits, which is why people voluntarily spend a lot of their money on it. And the people who work in the mobility business have reason to be proud of the services they provide their fellow humans.