Thinking with Bevereley Skeggs - Stockholms universitet

violence, posing a threat to middle- and upper-class respectabilityand choices of cars (see O’Dell 2001).Several of the interviewees made a distinction betweenthose embracing the car as a lifestyle – those who ‘know’ – incontrast to those who (simply) ‘own’. In order to ‘know’ yourcar you are to restore it; to simply own the car may within thiscar community be conceived of as a failure. Such discourses aremade into a resource to position the BMW driver failing thisideal and simultaneously ‘keeping’ men within the communitytogether (Ahmed 2004: 108).The narrative can be interpreted as a strategy to reformulatewhat is ‘true’ and ‘proper’ masculinity compared to ideas ofmiddle- and upper-class masculinity. This is done throughemphasising driving skills as what (really) matters in the socialhierarchy between men. Such embodied practical knowledge ispart of a car lifestyle and something Lars describes himself ashaving (he ‘happens to get away a bit at the start’) but the BMWdriver lacks. Rather, the BMW driver is being shamed for notbeing in control of the car and for reacting emotionally. He ispositioned as ‘pissed off’ (too emotional) and as driving like a‘madman’ (dangerous).Shamed by the car – failing to go all the wayTaking the viewpoint of gender and technology as in a relationof co-construction, the car may play ‘tricks’ on its user. In thisexcerpt Trond, a 44-year-old enthusiast from Norway, talks abouthis experiences of getting to know his newly bought car throughseeing how fast ‘he’ could go. When I first asked if he had everlost control of his mint condition, light blue Cadillac, I got theimpression he found the question rather strange and awkward.Trond: No, it is not a problem to keep it on the road; I have full controlof that.Dag: Can you describe an occasion when you lost control of the car?Trond: No, I can’t…15