Motorsport and the Universe of Meaning surrounding “Speed”

Aided by Luhmann's System Theory

Abstract

　The attraction of motorsport is regarded as "speed (and thrill) ". From the perspective of motorsports players, however, this assumption involves problems. While racing drivers are attacking circuit tracks, they scarcely pay attention to the speedometer (moreover, it is often removed from racing machines). In addition, at the instant their machines reach the "top speed" on straightaways, the drivers feel relatively most relaxed; they aren't competing in a "sport". This fact makes us suspicious of the the universe of meaning/discourse that reduces motorsport to "speed".
　Early motorsport greatly contributed to the development of motorization. It represented people's "desire for speed". From Luhmann's system theory, this relationship is interpreted as a sort of "symbiotic mechanism"; the organic foundation of social systems. On the other hand, however, the automobile society is characterized by the inhibition of speed. The antinomy of inspiration and inhibition was a result of the differentiation of the universe of meaning into two distinctive spheres, namely the "symbolism of safety" and that "of speed". The former is the "perverted" perspective of the traffic law/police. It identifies itself with the symbol "safety" and only rhetorically accuses the "diabolic" side of speed in blindness to the reality of traffic risk. The latter is the "opposite" of the former. It identifies itself with the symbol "speed" and also forgets risk. Each symbolism is the negative image or "double" of the other and mutually amplifies its own perversion by utilizing the opposite as the "catalyzer".
　This dichotomy is the very mechanism that enables motorization. The most drastic effect of this maneuver is the "creation" of the "desire for speed". This anthropological category is indeed a construct of the universe of meaning differentiated into both symbolisms, which is, based on Luhmann's theory, a "self-referential system".