Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2001. [Vol. 7.] Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 27)

Studies - Sándor Végh: Adoption or Adaptation?: Interpretations of the Automobile

with well-known food-chains and Hollywood blockbusters, we have no reason to wonder about this resistance. Ethnicity, too, has fallen victim to the automobile. Originally closed ethnic communities were opened up, which undoubtedly helped them to be recognized and to promote their ethnic heritage, but destroyed their integrity. Geographical mobility loosened up these communities, scattered them around the country to become easysubjects to assimilation which certainly helped America to become a more unified nation, but also resulted in the loss of ethnic identity. Worst of all, the already fully operating consumer society tore off elements of ethnic cultures

—national food in most cases

—and identified the whole ethnicity with them. Certainly, the automobile is not responsible for the derogative connotations of these associations. Summary Even today, the development of the automobile continues to advance. The motor vehicle has become an inseparable and cardinal piece of the American scene; one foundation-stone of contemporary American civilization. Historians often concluded their research of the history of the automobile by slightly exaggerating statements. Schneider remarks that "the automobile is the greatest self-generating, self-sustaining development since the living cell first appeared on earth and began to populate it with the species" (Schneider 265). Flink's opening statement in his comprehensive study of the car is, "the Model T and the Fordson tractor more profoundly influenced 20th-century American historical development than the collection of reforms emerging from the so-called Progressive Era and the New Deal combined" (Car Culture 2). In his introductory essay, Neuman implies that "[n]o mechanical convenience has so enthralled a jaded public, as the automobile has the American public" (123). I agree with the experts of automobile history that no other technological advance opened up space for human habitation and habitude, and other use, in such a brief period than the automobile. Undoubtedly, the automobile industry initiated other industries, improved and established many new types of small businesses, and positively affected mos* branches of the economy. American lifeways were reshaped; patterns of courtship, residence, socialization of 87