Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Politics and International Relations
Reader 1
Owen Brown
Reader 2
Nancy Neiman
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
@2024 Ava Flum
Abstract
In It for the Long Haul: Long-Haul Trucking and the American Myth explores the intersection of culture, economics, and politics in the world of trucking, using the freight industry as a case study to interrogate the promises and failures of the American Dream. This thesis examines how the myth of trucking—framed as a pathway to freedom, prosperity, and autonomy—collides with the lived realities of truck drivers, who face economic precarity, corporate exploitation, and intense personal sacrifice.
Through an analysis of deregulation, industry practices, and the persistence of the myth in public consciousness, this work exposes how the romanticized ideals of the American Dream obscure the structural inequalities embedded in the industry. By juxtaposing the myth of trucking with its realities, this thesis reveals the broader implications of a national narrative that promises success through hard work while ignoring the systemic barriers to achieving it.
Recommended Citation
Flum, Ava, "In It for the Long Haul: Long-Haul Trucking and the American Myth" (2025). Scripps Senior Theses. 2511.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/2511
