Everyday Sociology Talk: Can Sociology Explain $4 Gasoline?

As  you can see, gas in Los Angeles has risen above the $4  mark. Can sociology help us understand why?

Karen Sternheimer and Sally Raskoff discuss a few ideas of how sociology explains rising gas prices. What are your ideas? (Yes, the steering wheel symbolizes consumers being choked by high gas prices...or it just got in the shot accidentally).

Comments

[Marianne]

$4 gas is a good example of politics, economics and sociology colliding. I like the urban sociology perspective, but I also think $4 gas plays into American's cultural assumptions. We have been conditioned to think that a house in the suburbs, cheap gas and an (often large, gas-guzzling vehicle) are status symbols - and, more importantly, that every middle-class person is entitled to these things. To the extent that relatively high gas makes us question our habits and assumptions a little bit, it makes us supremely uncomfortable.

Also, it's worth pointing out that people complain loudly about relatively expensive gas, there's very few people doing anything substantial to change it, nor examining the history, politics and economics behind gas prices and our dependence on foreign oil. False consciousness, indeed.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000259315178]

With gas rising to $4 dollars I would have to say that it mostly have to do with economic reasoning. The assumption is that oil purchase prices has risen, so this is out reasoning for gas prices rising. Our economy is not doing so well as a whole, so in a socological perspective you would expect prices to drop not rise.

False conciousness would be the President saying gas prices rising because of the cost of oil, when oil is being bought at the same price as before. Then we have things like taxpayer kickbacks. Like slashing the taxes of the wealthy and increasign prices for the average joe.

[Kayla Eldridge]

I agree 10% with the person who mentioned that we all complain about $4 gas, but very few are doing anything about it. Perhaps if we were driving more vehicles with high mpgs then we wouldn't need to refill as often and the gas prices would eventually go down. again- supply and demand.

[Kayla Eldridge]

correction: I meant "I agree 100%" not 10%. :)

[Debbie Baker]

Sociology can explain $4 gas because it is the study of patterns. I on the other hand says it is only greed.

[Lamonica Carson]

I think that it has to do with economic reasoning. The assumption is that oil purchase prices has risen, so this is out reasoning for gas prices rising. When oil is being bought at the same price as before, then we the taxpayers have things like the taxpayer kickbacks. Like slashing the taxes of the wealthy and increasing prices for the average joe.

[Tiffany Sandiford]

I don't think it is just gas going up it is everything!! The oil was not going up, but gas was. I was crazy and ridiculous, unfortunately it is going higher and higher now.

[ashley blackwell]

I think the gas prices are rising because our government and the big people know that the small people that have everyday jobs will pay the gas prices no matter what they are because we depend on the gas to get to work. If we could do like they did back in the day and only drive to work and get things while we were in town and not go home and drive back, we could really show them that if it was not for us they would not be making all this money. Not everyone can do this.

[truck rental]

Thanks for the post, was very interesting to see the discussion. I agree with Ashley and think that the small people are trap by the government decisions, there must be away to affect those price risings.

[George Moore]

I think it is awful to pay $4 a gallon for gas.