The Bicycle as Social Disruptor

The Bicycle as Social Disruptor:

 Media Framing and Public Perception of Bicycling

By Mike T. Beck

Principal at the Better Bicycling Bureau

©2014 Mike T Beck ARR

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Abstract

     The history of bicycling is interwoven with the forces of progress and popular culture in America. During the 19^th Century, bicycling widely contributed to the advancement of society, affecting public attitudes on technology, the women’s liberation movement, paternalism, politics, tax policy, public roads and urban mobility. Despite myriad foundational roles in the forward march of American progress, the bicycle has been roundly demonized since its invention.   

     Although the bicycle is recognized as a practical tool against fossil fuel dependency, American conventions originally established to favor bicycling now discourage its broader social acceptance in the fight to combat climate change. The role of the bicycle as historic disruptor across a broad swath of social conventions led to enduring cultural tropes that hinder a broader reuptake of the bicycle into contemporary American life. 

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The Bicycle as Social Disruptor:

 Media Framing and Public Perception of Bicycling

     The bicycle is a commonplace machine that needs little introduction. Bicycles are ridden worldwide and linked to many developments of the modern age. Motor vehicles, airplanes, and improved roads all have their roots in the bicycle industry (Taylor, 2008). The Druyea brothers, inventors of the motor car, were bicycle mechanics. The Wright brothers began construction of their Wright flyers at Kitty Hawk as bicycle mechanics tinkering in the back room of their bicycle shop. (Hurst, 2009). The call for better roads in America was originally led by bicyclists. These efforts advanced widespread civic and tax reforms for public infrastructure (Potter, 1891).

     Bicycling and popular culture in America are inseparable. Before the end of the 19^th Century, bicycling had become so entrenched in American society it was regarded as a new force of social change (Aronson, 1952). The bicycle fundamentally reshaped the everyday lives of Americans and “could not be abandoned without turning the social progress of the world backward” (Harmond, 1971, pg. 241).

     Bicycling thrived during the depression of the early 1890s, a vigorous industry amidst national economic downturn (Burr, 2013). A bicycle was the emblem of technological progress of the 19^th Century. In the 1890s a third of all US patent applications were bicycle related, in such volumes the bicycle remains the only invention to ever require its own separate patent office (Reed, 2014).  During this time, bicycling became both more affordable and an agent of flight from the drudgery of the city.  The bicycle proved itself as a common vehicle for proletarian escapes to the countryside (Harmond, 1971). In this way, the bicycle rejected the civilization and technology it arose from by putting wild America within striking reach of a city rider.

full paper available from bbb.betterbicyclingbureau.com