>The SUV is an expression of fear; it is generally a response
>to a perceived deterioration of environment. In this case
>the behavioral sink is the ever more crowded road and highway
>system on which people are required to drive to get to work
>or go shopping. Fear is probably counterrevolutionary.
I'm not a big fan of SUVs, but they are really a sign of a desire for more comfort when stuffing many people in for a long trip. As someone noted, they are the replacement for the station wagon.
As well, it is worth noting that the SUVs do not count against the CAFE gas mileage requirements for car companies, since SUVs usually get counted as trucks. For this reason, SUVs can be produced in great numbers without running into regulatory limits, unlike station wagons and other gas guzzlers that get counted as cars for CAFE gas mileage rules.
Single yuppies driving an SUV may be engaging in ostentasious consumption, but the general explosion of SUVs on the road is a relatively predictable result of the low gas prices and regulatory favoritism towards SUVs over cars in the 1990s.
-- Nathan Newman