Academic literature on the topic 'Motorcycling culture'

Drawing on interview, survey, and long-term participant observational research in the BMW motorcycling community, we analyze issues related to the commodification of riding. We use Hill-Collins’s (1999) “both/and” approach in our data analysis. Specifically, we draw on Adorno’s (1991) and Marcuse’s (1964) theories of the commodification of popular culture and the power of the “culture industry” to market non-essential products. We find that Marx’s (Marx and Engels 1988) theory of ways to attain “species-being” have the potential to be expanded via serious leisure activities (e.g., motorcycling) even as some are caught up in the discursive power of the culture industry.

Abstract: The contemporary popularity of motorcycling has resulted in a booming manufacturing industry as well as the emergence of a unique culture revolving around very specific forms of material cultural capital. Industry research focusing exclusively on the economic impact of motorcycling gravely underestimates the social and cultural consequences that have been brought about as a result of these ecological alternatives in personal mobility. As routine riding in overcrowded urban environments becomes more and more problematic, motorcyclists find themselves yearning for the self-exile available through the wide open spaces of desert environs in order to optimize the emancipatory potential of this sensual technological Bohemian experience on two wheels. To that end, off road motorcyclists have organized rallies such as the Dakar in unique geological environments to provide riders the technology-driven mystical catharsis they are seeking. Using evidence gathered from ethnographic fieldwork, film portrayals, and contemporary public policies; the paper demonstrates that the widespread popularity of off-road motorcycling and related intercultural harmony represents a significant threat to the routinization of conflict driving the hegemonic world order.

This article provides an insight into the embodied and sensorial experiences of motorcycling through a series of vignettes. Through a phenomenologically inspired approach, I attempt “to bring the body back in” and explore how tests of experience can cultivate a sensuous self by sharpening awareness of all the senses and extending the mind–body-self to interconnect with a motorcycle. Motorcycling requires a sharpening of senses, meticulous preparation, and swift recovery following setbacks. There may be risks attached to pursue tests of experiences, but new adventures and unique experiences can cultivate joy, fulfillment, enhance confidence and resilience, and provide an opportunity to grow and expand one’s sense of self.

This research applied a reciprocal model to investigate the safety culture of road traffic organizations for motorcyclists’ safety. By focusing on the situational aspects, we applied the four steps of the macroergonomic approach to analyze a local government organization in Indonesia. We identified some weak elements of safety culture embedded in the sub-system level of the organization. The absence of proper education of motorcyclist candidates has led to failures in developing their skills and knowledge. In addition, we found that the existence of the item “if any” in the licensing registration procedure weakened the understanding of the importance of learning. Investigation of situational aspects revealed some critical issues regarding safety culture development by road traffic organizations.

Purpose Motorcycle tourism, as an emerging segment of travelers, has steadily increased in the USA and UK. While previous literature reveals that the attributes of both the journey and the destination are motivations for motorcycle tourists, the extent to which supply-side stakeholders are aware of those motivators is not clear. This study aims to explore the perceived value of motorcycle tourism between differing tourism suppliers in the US state of Pennsylvania and investigates whether they exhibit sufficient agreement to satisfy the cooperation and collaboration identified as necessary in stakeholder theory. Design/methodology/approach For this exploratory study, an electronic survey captured data from different tourism suppliers (N = 123) in the US state of Pennsylvania. A series of analysis of variance and equality of means tests assessed differences and agreements between types of suppliers perceptions of the value of motorcycle tourism and issues associated with successful development of the niche segment. Findings Results reveal alignment among tourism suppliers, as well as between identified motorcyclists’ motivations. While negative perceptions about riders within popular culture appear to continue among some tourism operators, the economic value of the segment is growing in its appeal among the respondents. Research limitations/implications The unique characteristics of Pennsylvania’s substantial rural areas and the sample being drawn from tourism organizations suggest generalizing the results with caution. Practical implications Practitioners can capture more of these tourists by highlighting amenities that attract motorcyclists, collaborating together on events and welcoming messages for motorcyclists, as well as educating their communities and policymakers about their interest in the segment’s economic value. Social implications Overall the study’s findings suggest that while a cultural stereotype of the “outlaw” motorcyclist remains, this negative image may be waning among tourism operators. Additionally, these results indicate a possible consistency among the state’s tourism supply-side stakeholders desire to host this segment because of potential positive benefits of these tourists. Originality/value There is scant academic research on this visible and growing tourism niche. There is none that these authors found that examined the tourism suppliers’ sentiments regarding the segment’s contribution to tourism, nor explored stakeholder theory relative to tourism suppliers and this niche segment.

In the Futurist imagination, speed is the essence itself of the existence of modernity: both as the indispensable mechanism in the relationship with contemporary life and as the guiding factor in relationships of the psyche and thought with reality, shaping new individual and collective relations, which were by then projected into the future. -- La Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta Speed, Modernity, and Post-Modernity The concept of speed is prevalent in, and has many implications for, contemporary western society. Speed is simultaneously a form of behaviour required of individuals in their professional lives as the electronic workplace becomes faster and faster, and an experience that many people crave as a form of release from the slow pace of personal or recreational life as this is defined by our physical limitations. In his recent book Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything, popular science writer James Gleick discusses instances of where speed functions as a social mechanism that pushes people to function with the speed and efficiency of machines. He describes how speed has become embedded physically, mechanically, and psychologically into almost every aspect of social behaviour, often overwhelming our mental and physical ability to cope with its effects. Speed has become a necessity, a desperation, and a desire to fulfil. The concept of speed is explicitly identified with Modernism, yet it continues to be a focal concept in what may be termed the Postmodern present. Does this mean that speed has surpassed Modernity, that it has sped ahead of its own origins, or does it indicate that Postmodernity is merely the speeding-up of Modernity? This paper does not attempt, in dry academic fashion, to proclaim universal knowledge and provide all the answers to all the questions that could be raised in relation to this topic. The author invites readers to consider the various representations of speed introduced here as the product of a collective western obsession with progress, novelty, and rapid sensationalism. Speed in Futurist Philosophy The Futurist movement has been discussed widely elsewhere, so I will not offer a repetitive description here. It is sufficient for the scope of this paper to refer to the fundamentals of Futurist philosophy as it is defined by F.T. Marinetti in 'The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism', Le Figaro (Paris), 20 February 1909: We affirm that the world's magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath -- a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace. We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit. Without condoning or embracing the fascist, anti-intellectual, multi-anti-ism elements of Futurist philosophy; I draw attention to this evocative pronouncement of its obsession with speed in order to provide a thematic basis for the material that follows. Speed is defined as a form of great mechanical accomplishment and as an immense intellectual, emotional, and spiritual force that is symbolic of the ideal or progress and human achievement. Speed and Contemporaneity Milan Kundera in his novel Slowness employs the concept of speed to characterise a frenetic ecstasy of the present, which he disparagingly views as archetypally modern: ... the man hunched over his motorcycle can focus only on the present instant of his flight; he is caught in a fragment of time cut off from both the past and the future; he is wrenched from the continuity of time; he is outside time; in other words he is in a state of ecstasy. In that state he is unaware of his age, his wife, his children, his worries, and so he has no fear, because the source of fear is in the future, and a person freed of the future has nothing to fear. (3-4) The 'progress' of the technical revolution, so worshipped by the Futurist thinkers, is for Kundera an experience that is more mental and psychological than it is physical, due to the inability of the human body to produce the thrill of speed to the extent that machines can. He contrasts mechanically-induced speed to that produced by our own bodies: As opposed to a motorcyclist, the runner is always present in his body, forever required to think of his blisters, his exhaustion; when he runs he feels his weight, his age, more conscious than ever of himself and of his time of life. This all changes when man delegates the faculty of speed to a machine: from then on, his own body is outside the process, and he gives over to a speed that is non-corporeal, non-material, pure speed, speed itself, ecstasy speed. (4) For Kundera, "Speed is the form of ecstasy the technical revolution as bestowed on man." This statement accords with the Modernist vision of speed as the motif of industrial and social progress, but it does not really elucidate what characteristics the speed itself possesses. The Characteristics of Technologically Enabled Speed Interpreting from Kundera's thoughts on speed, it is possible to surmise that: The speed produced must be significantly beyond that capable of being produced by the unaided human body; The technical production of speed and the reliance on sophisticated equipment to do this paradoxically produces a purely non-corporeal, metaphysical or psychological experience that is outside time and beyond immediate physical consequences; and Speed is a form of ecstatic experience that is comparable to other forms of ecstasy, such as sexual or religious experience, or the use of psychotropic drugs. In contemporary society the experience of speed is determined by these three concepts. The Personal I know of no better way to experience speed in a raw, immediate, and sensory-fulfilling way than to ride a motorcycle faster than is legally permitted. Unlike other forms of mechanical travel -- cars, aircraft, trains -- motorbikes offer a direct way to really feel speed. The image of the motorcyclist in Slowness is evocative for me because Kundera's language (even in translation) gives my immediate experience a lyrical context. In other forms of transport, the traveller is too far removed from many of the sensations of speed, even when travelling at greater speeds than a bike can manage. Cars are safe, and you can speed in them more safely than on a bike. The relative distance from the road and the wind is greater, however, and the traveller is thus further removed from the elements that make the sensation of speed so intoxicating. When riding a motorcycle, the wind hits you roughly at higher speeds, gently at lower speeds, and moves around you unpredictably, pushing the bike in different directions. In other forms of transport, the traveller is too far removed from many of the sensations of speed, even when travelling at greater speeds than a bike can manage. Cars are safe, and you can speed in them more safely than on a bike. The relative distance from the road and the wind is greater, however, and the traveller is thus further removed from the elements that make the sensation of speed so intoxicating. When riding a motorcycle, the wind hits you roughly at higher speeds, gently at lower speeds, and moves around you unpredictably, pushing the bike in different directions. In other forms of transport, the traveller is too far removed from many of the sensations of speed, even when travelling at greater speeds than a bike can manage. Cars are safe, and you can speed in them more safely than on a bike. The relative distance from the road and the wind is greater, however, and the traveller is thus further removed from the elements that make the sensation of speed so intoxicating. When riding a motorcycle, the wind hits you roughly at higher speeds, gently at lower speeds, and moves around you unpredictably, pushing the bike in different directions. Racing The rebellious, renegade idea of driving or riding illegally fast on public roads is examined and discussed at the Flat Out Website (not that this article condones breaking the law). A far safer and less costly alternative is watching motor-racing on television (or better still actually at the track). In Formula 1, the ultimate form of international motor-racing, speed is sought and worshipped in many forms, from the speed of the cars and the drivers themselves to the speed of the associated technologies used by the teams. What fascinates most spectators, however, is the desire of the drivers to take risks in order to go faster than anyone else, and go faster than they have ever gone before. Legendary drivers like Stirling Moss, Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, and Michael Schumacher have earnt respect and admiration in relation to the intensity of the experience of speed that they are able to share with their fans. The number of races they win is immaterial in relation to the style with which they drive. Villeneuve, for example, only won 6 races, yet he is worshipped more than drivers who have won many more than that because his style of driving demonstrated the purity of speed. He desired the thrill of speed more than the glory of victory. Vicariously, spectators of speed share in the glory and sensationalism it creates. Speed is meant to be fun for both the participant and the spectator; it does not have to mean anything more than this. Visualise a Bullet Train or TGV slicing through glorious Japanese or French countryside. Marvel at a 500cc GP rider like Mick Doohan sliding his bike through a smooth fast corner to the adulation of thousands. There is only one appropriate response. As Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, Tom Cruise's character in the hit 1980s film Top Gun, says, "I feel the need, the need for speed!" References Gleick, James. Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything. London: Little, Brown, and Company, 1999. Kundera, Milan. Slowness. London: Faber, 1996. Marinetti, F.T. "The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism". Le Figaro (Paris) 20 Feb. 1909. 1 Feb 2000 <http://www.futurism.fsnet.co.uk/manifestos/manifesto01.htm>. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Brian Ward. "Speed." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3.3 (2000). [your date of access] <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0006/speed.php>. Chicago style: Brian Ward, "Speed," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3, no. 3 (2000), <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0006/speed.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Brian Ward. (2000) Speed. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3(3). <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0006/speed.php> ([your date of access]).

This thesis covers social and cultural aspects of the motorcycling movement during the interwar period of 1919 to 1939. Using contemporary records of both written and oral nature, a diverse set of themes are explored, beginning with the origins of the motorcycle enthusiasm, from its invention towards the end of the nineteenth century, to the dawn of the twenties, when for a while it held the dominant position in personal motorised transport, until through processes of economics such as the trickle down theory of consumer goods ownership, dominance was transferred to the motorcar. Next, the phenomenon of motorcycling clubs, their composition, practices and distribution, is covered in detail. Turning towards gender issues, the place women held within the movement is discussed. Despite a persistent element of male dominance within the pastime, some women held a prominent position, many achieving fame and acclaim both at a personal and national level. In the next chapter, legislative processes are covered, following governmental and police force involvement in controlling the increasing numbers of motorists of all types. Here, a special study of magistrates' records for the Darlington area provides a snapshot, which complements the national trends. Social class issues regarding the choice of motorized transport are addressed in the next chapter, allowing for a discussion of the wider, national picture and concentrating upon an analysis of the social structure of motorcyclists in the Darlington area, derived from records of registrations of 1920 machines. The motorcycle's place in art and related cultural themes is discussed in chapter six, allowing for analysis of artistic genre such as Futurism, Bauhaus, and other forms of modernist interpretation. Literary links with motorcycling, either through enthusiast journals or mainstream literature is explored, together with film and music, to provide an overview of motorcycling in these themes. Overall, the thesis discusses a wide range of hitherto unexplored themes relating to motorcycling during this era, and attempts to shed new light upon an important set of elements within social and cultural history.

There has been a longstanding fascination with motorcycling culture in popular mainstream North American media, but this culture has only recently become the focus of rigorous, contextualized academic research. While smaller research projects have studied specific aspects of motorcycling culture, few academic researchers have investigated the exclusionary discourses that underpin motorcycling culture and none have done so in a methodical manner. Using a series of columns published over a thirty-five year period in the popular Canadian motorcycle magazine, Cycle Canada, I have analyzed the discourses through which motorcycling culture comes to have meaning to its participants and I have elucidated the socio-historical understandings of masculinity that are present in North American motorcycling culture. This thesis provides a historical sociological analysis of motorcycling discourse through a feminist lens. I view gender as a relation that must constantly be (re)negotiated amongst socially constituted subjects and I pay particular attention to how technological discourse is made socially durable and sustainable by the interface of material (motorcycles) and organic (human) beings. Longitudinal analysis of Cycle Canada illustrates the presence of heteronormative discourses that constrain readers' choices of gender identification and sexual orientation to traditional notions of masculinity. In an effort to create solidarity with their readers, the magazine editors cater to the perceived interests of an idealized male audience by performing these masculine identities. Though motorcycling culture in Canada is increasingly diverse, Cycle Canada has only begun to reflect this diversity in the past two years of publication. Explicating the social, political, economic, technological and historical context which gave rise to particular masculine identities in motorcycling culture allows us to focus on the positive agency involved in the performance of masculine identities, while still recognizing that there remains room to include other figurations of identity beyond traditional concepts of heteronormativity and homosociality.
Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2008-05-07 06:21:18.665

Motorcycling as a means of transportation has grown rapidly in Mexico. In the last decade, the number of motorcycles increased 338.05%, which means that motorbikes represent 5.97% of the total number of vehicles in the country. During this period, however, the annual average shows that 3.16% of motorcyclists had an accident, which is proof that motorcycle riders are vulnerable users with high risks in terms of road safety. The objective of this research is to identify the subgroups of motorcyclers with higher accident risks and to identify risk factors. The sample for the quantitative study included all motorbike riders who died or were injured as a result of a reported road accident, between 2000 and 2014. The sample was obtained using the database at the National Institute for Statistics and Geography and the General Direction of Health Information. Descriptive variables were determined for all the categories and were matched to the death cause to find statistical correlation. These systems of information registrered, during 2014 in Mexico, more than 41,881 accidents and 826 deaths caused by motorcycle accident. The highest number of accidents involved men (P&lt;0.001) between 20 and 30 years old, where 20.55% had head injuries and only 16.59% of bikers were wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. This combination – age 20-30, male gender and not wearing a helmet – seems to be a powerful risk factor. However, accidents are largely underreported due to the fact that the format used to receive attention after suffering a violent attack or injury (SIS-SS-127-P) does not include the motorcycle as an agent of injury. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance to create a reliable statistical system and promote a good road safety culture together with protective factors and safety equipment.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.2172