The Competing Hegemony of Developing Sustainable Private Vehicles: An Ethnographic Analysis of Friction Between China's Conventional and Electric Vehicles' Cultural Values

This ethnographic study examines the causes and consequences of frictions produced during the value-making process of Chinese electric and conventional vehicle supporters. Previous scholars such as Gökçe Günel (2019) revealed that the tensions created by heterogeneous views shape the ideologies of smart urban spaces. Here I elaborated on Günel (2019)'s argument by borrowing Anna Tsing (2011)'s concept of "friction" throughout the analysis to strengthen how tensions created by the heterogeneous views produce competing hegemony that makes creativities invisible. I identified five technical and sentimental values related to China's private automobiles. The five values in this study are Intelligence (technical), Mechanical Structure (technical), Nostalgia (sentimental), Progressive Nationalism (sentimental), and Environmentalism (technical & sentimental). I examined how social cohesions are formed to develop competing hegemony based on the ways that electric and conventional vehicle supporters categorize the properties of these values. Finally, I argue that in order to achieve the production of sustainable private automobiles in China, the automobile industries and interest parties need to seek collaboration through acknowledging the friction and negotiating the conflicts.