| Description |
1 online resource (xvi, 264 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Cover; Auto Opium; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of illustrations; Preface; 1 The aesthetics of Fordism; Fordism: the marriage of mass production and mass consumption; Critique of the regulation theory of Fordism; Completing the Fordist framework: the contribution of critical theory; The limitations of critical theory; 2 Early development of the automotive form; America, 1893-1911: crisis, conflict, consolidation, culture; The industry and aesthetics of the early automobile; Development of a unique automotive form; An aesthetics of fragmentation |
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Early body styles and constructionThe beginnings of aesthetic integration; Cultural meanings of early autos; 3 Diverging paths of design: mass and class production; America, 1912-1924: mass production, mass revolt, mass consumption; Mass production and the transformation of automobile aesthetics; Class production and the aesthetics of luxury; Cultural connotations of diverging automobile designs; The style imperative: the demand for obscuring aesthetics; 4 The struggle for styling I: The 1920s and the birth of automobile styling |
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America, 1925-1930: consumer society and the rise of industrial designStruggle of the automotive giants: GM style versus Ford utility; Empirical application of modified Fordist theory: the American automobile; 1927 and the triumph of style; The institutionalization of style: Harley Earl and the rise of Art and Color; The slow diffusion of style; The direction of style in the late 1920s; 5 The struggle for styling II: The Depression and the decade of streamlining; America, 1931-1945: conflict, competition, concealment, postponement; Automobile styling's Depressionary rise to power |
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The battle for the ideology of streamliningAirflow: the disastrous defeat of functional streamlining; The triumph of aesthetic streamlining; Streamlining for war; 6 1950s' fins and the triumph of fantastic styling; America, 1946-1959: conflict, consumerism, Cold War, anxiety; The postwar automobile market: styling, oligopoly, bean counters; The organizational triumph of styling; The aesthetics of the postwar dream machines; Trouble in paradise: the incipient revolt against Detroit dream machines; The Edsel debacle: the revolt unleashed; Harbinger of automotive individuality |
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7 The rise and fall of auto individualityAmerica, 1960-1970: the escalating contradictions of Fordism; Styling reorganizes for automotive individuality; The explosion of automotive diversity; The look of individuality: aesthetic trends in the 1960s; America's automotive discontent; Epilogue Design in the wake of Fordism; The great repression, consumer salvation, and the demise of styling supremacy; The bifurcated boom, overconsumption, and upscale functionalism; Notes; Index |
| Summary |
This much needed book is the first to provide a comprehensive history of the profession and aesthetics of American automobile design. The author reveals how the appearance of the automobile was shaped by the social conflicts arising from America's mass production system. He connects the social struggles of American society with the organizational struggles of designers to create symbol-laden substitutes for the American dream. Theoretically sophisticated, lucid and compelling, Auto-Opium will appeal to all interested in the American obsession with the car |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 226-252) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Automobiles -- Bodies -- United States -- Design and construction -- History
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Automobiles -- United States -- Psychological aspects
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Aesthetics, Modern -- 20th century.
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Aesthetics, Modern.
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TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Automotive.
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TRANSPORTATION -- Automotive -- Pictorial.
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Aesthetics, Modern
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Automobiles -- Bodies -- Design and construction
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Automobiles -- Psychological aspects
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Personenkraftwagen
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Geschichte
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Design
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Auto's.
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Auto-industrie.
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Industriële vormgeving.
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United States
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USA
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
93049738 |
| ISBN |
9781135094201 |
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1135094209 |
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9780203411841 |
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0203411846 |
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9781135094348 |
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1135094349 |
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9781135094270 |
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1135094276 |
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