Thumbs Down: America and the Decline of Hitchhiking

This thesis looks at the decline of Hitchhiking in America and provides a critical examination of a number of factors responsible for its disappearance. In large part hitchhiking's disappearance is seen as a microcosm for a larger social problems in America. In particular this thesis examines the role that pervasive societal fear played in reducing hitchhiking's popularity. It also looks at the dominant influence that cars have had and their expansive rise to prevalence at the expense of all other forms of transportation. Finally, the thesis concludes by examining the atrophy of America's social connectedness and the deleterious effect this has had on the hitchhiking enterprise.