Culture Constraints of High-Speed Rail in the United States

Transfers ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-135
Author(s):  
Zhenhua Chen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
Daily Behavior ◽  
Cultural Constraints

The development of high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure in the United States faces a great challenge given concerns of economic viability and political complexity. However, an in-depth investigation reveals that some of these challenges and complexities regarding high-speed rail mobility can be elucidated by historical and cultural characteristics that affect daily behavior, lifestyle, and public attitudes in U.S. society. This essay discusses the debate on the U.S. high-speed rail development policy from the perspective of American exceptionalism. Through an exploration of the four traits of American exceptionalism, the essay argues that the stagnation of U.S. federal high-speed rail initiatives can be explained by U.S. cultural constraints: individualism, antistatism, populism, and egalitarianism. Unless more solid evidence is provided to convince the public about the benefits of HSR mobility, the HSR debate is likely to continue in the United States.

scholarly journals Benchmark of the Trends of Spatial Inequality in World Megaregions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6456
Author(s):  
Ziqi Liu ◽  
Ming Zhang ◽  
Liwen Liu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spatial Inequality ◽  
Theil Index ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
International Learning ◽  
Regional Product ◽  
Index Measure

There have been growing concerns around the world over the rising spatial inequality (SI) amid fast and vast globalization. This paper presents an effort to benchmark the conditions and trends of spatial inequality in 37 megaregions in the United States, Europe, and China. Furthermore, the study selected three megaregion examples and analyzed the effect of developing high-speed rail (HSR) as an infrastructure investment strategy on reshaping the spatial pattern of job accessibility. The study measures spatial inequality with the Theil index of gross regional product and with the rank-size coefficient of polycentricity. Results show that spatial inequality exists and varies in magnitude within and between megaregions. On average, Chinese megaregions exhibited the level of spatial inequality about two times or more of those in the U.S. and European megaregions. The decade between 2006 and 2016 saw a decrease in the Theil index measure of megaregional inequality in China, but a slight increase in the United States and Europe. Fast growing megaregions exhibit high levels and rising trends of spatial inequality regardless of the country or continent setting. HSR helps improve mobility and accessibility; yet the extent to which HSR reduces spatial inequality is context dependent. This study presents a first attempt to assess and compare the spatial inequality conditions and trajectories in world megaregions aiming at promoting international learning.

Beliefs and Stereotypes About LGBT People

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary R. Hicks
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Lgbt People ◽  
Lgbt Individuals

The public’s perception of, beliefs about, and interest in LGBT individuals and the issues impacting them has long had great significance to the community’s social, political, and legal progress. The last decade has seen monumental changes in public attitudes about LGBT people and the laws that affect them in the United States and around the world. Much of this change has been positive, including the landmark Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage. In some parts of the world—even those that have witnessed great strides for LGBT equality—there have also been signs of a backlash against the community’s newfound rights and visibility in society. Stereotypes of LGBT individuals, mostly negative, have been responsible for much of this reaction, as well as their historically negative view in by the public. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the mass media has played a major role in creating and perpetuating these stereotypes.

scholarly journals It Takes Three: How Mass Media Coverage Conditions Public Responsiveness to Policy Outputs in the United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Williams ◽  
Martijn Schoonvelde
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Policy Area ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Public Demand

Democratic governance requires that policy outcomes and public demand for policy be linked. While studies have shown empirical support for such a relationship in various policy domains, empirical evidence also indicates that the public is relatively unaware of policy outputs. This raises a puzzle: Why do policy outputs influence public attitudes if the public knows little about them?MethodsThis study seeks to address this paradox by examining the conditioning role of media coverage. We rely on data derived from the Policy Agendas Project in the United States, allowing us to analyze the relationship between policy outcomes, public preferences, and newspaper content across a long span of time (1972–2007).ResultsOur results indicate that public policy preferences respond to policy outputs, and that this relationship is strengthened by greater media attention to a policy area. Importantly, our findings also indicate that without media attention to a policy area, there is no direct effect of policy outputs on public demand for policy.ConclusionsMedia coverage appears to be a key factor for public responsiveness to occur. In the absence of policy coverage by the media, public responsiveness to policy outputs is greatly reduced.

scholarly journals Prospects for the development of high-speed railway communication in Russia based on the analysis of foreign experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 136-145
Author(s):  
Inna N. Rykova ◽  
Andrey A. Alaev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Speed ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Level Of Economic Development ◽  
Passenger Flows ◽  
The Moment ◽  
High Level ◽  
Transport Complex

The article is devoted to the experience of the implementation of high-speed railways in foreign countries and the possibility of its use in Russia. Particular attention is paid to the issues of financial and economic justification of such projects, using the criteria of commercial and budgetary efficiency. Particular attention is paid to China in the article, since this country today has the greatest experience in the implementation of projects in the field of high-speed rail communication. The emergence of high-speed rail in China not only became a technological breakthrough, but also played an important role in stimulating the country’s economy and enhancing domestic demand. At the moment, 57% of all high-speed railways in the world are in China alone. The experience of the United States is also of scientific interest, in particular, in the consideration and evaluation of high-speed rail projects. Despite the high level of economic development in the United States, high-speed rail transport is practically undeveloped, which is largely due to historical reasons. Cheap oil, along with improvements to cars and airplanes, and government subsidies for highway and airport construction, have made these vehicles more accessible to most of the population and highlighted them. Despite these circumstances, the authorities of many states are interested in the implementation of high-speed rail projects. At the same time, the question of the possibility and expediency of switching passenger flows from existing modes of transport remains relevant in the United States. In the final part of the article, using the example of specific projects, the prospects for the development of high-speed railway communication in Russia are assessed and proposals for the development of the transport complex as a whole are given.

Blended Approach

2016 ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
Richard Harnish ◽  
F.K. Plous
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Building Block ◽  
High Speed ◽  
The United States ◽  
Network System ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
Interesting Topic ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Right ◽  
Block Approach

High Speed Rail development is an increasingly significant, interesting topic in the present and expected to continue to grow even more in the future. Implementation of high-speed rail would require the right type of track network system that would need to be maintained and/or built, as necessary. In this chapter, the author recommends that the United States will need to use the Blended or Building Block Approach to develop high-speed rail. He presents several examples of blended infrastructure worldwide for high-speed rail, which would offer a range of tools here in the United States for high-speed rail development.

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