IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v5y2017i4p147-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Forced Car Ownership’ in the UK and Germany: Socio-Spatial Patterns and Potential Economic Stress Impacts

Author

Listed:
  • Giulio Mattioli

    (Sustainability Research Institute and Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, UK)

Abstract

The notion of ‘forced car ownership’ (FCO), born out of transport research on UK rural areas, is used to define households who own cars despite limited economic resources. FCO is thought to result in households cutting expenditure on other necessities and/or reducing travel activity to the bare minimum, both of which may result in social exclusion. Social exclusion research, on the other hand, has paid much attention to ‘material deprivation’, i.e., the economic strain and enforced lack of durable goods arising from low income. However, the FCO phenomenon suggests that, among households with limited resources, the enforced possession and use of a durable good can be the cause of material deprivation, economic stress and vulnerability to fuel price increases. In this study, we use 2012 EU ‘Income and Living Conditions’ data (EU-SILC) to shed light on FCO in two European countries (UK and Germany). Through secondary data analysis we are able to show: the social and spatial patterns of FCO; key differences between FCO and ‘car deprived’ households; the intensity of social exclusion, material deprivation, and economic strain among FCO households; and overlaps between FCO and economic stress in other life domains (domestic fuel poverty, housing cost overburden). The results also show contrasting spatial patterns of FCO in Germany (higher incidence in rural areas) and UK (similar incidence in urban and rural areas), which can be explained in light of the different socio-spatial configurations prevalent in the two countries. We conclude by discussing implications for future research and policy-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulio Mattioli, 2017. "‘Forced Car Ownership’ in the UK and Germany: Socio-Spatial Patterns and Potential Economic Stress Impacts," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 147-160.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:147-160
    DOI: 10.17645/si.v5i4.1081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/1081
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.v5i4.1081?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:147-160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.