‘I'm a Normal Person’: An Examination of How Utilitarian Cyclists in Charleston South Carolina Use an Insider/Outsider Framework to Make Sense of Risks

Deborah McCarthy ()
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Deborah McCarthy: Department of Sociology, College of Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, 29424, USA.

Urban Studies, 2011, vol. 48, issue 7, 1439-1455

Abstract: This paper analyses 41 qualitative interviews with utilitarian cyclists in Charleston South Carolina to explore their understanding of cycling-related risks. The utilitarian cyclists list a number of risks related to motorist behaviour, such as cars passing too closely, which make them feel unsafe. Thirty-nine out of 41 of the respondents reveal the sentiment that often the risky behaviour of motorists is part of an anti-bicycle culture. This paper concludes that cyclists, in their attempt to make sense of these risks, perceive that the anti- bicycle culture is based on a system of exclusion in which drivers are insiders who belong on the road and treat cyclists as outsiders who do not belong.

Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:48:y:2011:i:7:p:1439-1455

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