Beyond the Domestification of Nature? Restructuring the Relationship between Nature and Technology in Car Commercials
Stef Aupers, Dick Houtman, Peter Achterberg, Willem de Koster, Peter Mascini and Jeroen van der Waal (2012) Beyond the domestication of nature? Restructuring the relationship between nature and technology in car commercials European Journal of Cultural Studies 15(1) 3–18.
20 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2015
Date Written: January 31, 2012
Abstract
It is often assessed that the modern construction of nature, technology and the relation between both is in the midst of a restructuring without specifying exactly what different articulations can be distinguished and how they differ from the modern notion of nature being domesticated by technology. Through an analysis of car commercials, this study develops an empirically informed typology of different constellations of nature and technology. Beside the modern nature-technology dichotomy, the authors distinguish an articulation imagining technology as a biological or cybernetic organism, paradoxically, emphasizing its superiority over nature; an articulation thematizing the ‘revenge of nature’ and the problems of technological progress; and an articulation holistically connecting car technology to ‘superior’ realms of nature. The ‘nature of nature’, it is concluded, proves to be deeply contested. Rather than formulating ‘grand narratives’, the authors therefore call for empirical studies that address cultural conflicts about the relationship between nature and technology.
Keywords: Nature, technology, car commercials, advertising, social construction, post-humanism, modern reflexivity, risk society, re-enchantment, cultural conflict
JEL Classification: M14, M37
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation