In response to these changes, work became more flexible and contingent. However, the nature of work was quite mundane for most people the average worker didn’t need to be–or wasn’t asked to be– particularly creative in their day-to-day jobs.Ĭreativity’s indispensability started gaining traction during the 1970s, a period marked by economic instability, recessions, and de-industrialization. This economic advantage allowed them to indulge in consumer goods, enjoy leisure time, own comfortable houses with backyards, embark on vacations, and acquire a variety of items. And how has the infusion of creativity into capitalism reshaped our work environment?ĭuring what is often referred to as the Fordist era, spanning the mid-20th century, individuals in North America and Western Europe experienced relatively high wages. When we discuss creative capitalism, it’s likely an amalgamation of these two perspectives. Yet, a broader interpretation encapsulates technological innovation, pulling the entire tech sector into its fold.
On the one hand, we usually associate it with the arts or art-adjacent fields, spanning design, fashion, writing, and even content creation.
However, the definition of a ‘creative person’ is a little fuzzy. At a certain juncture, there occurred a perceptible shift in values - transitioning from simply being competent and dependable in one’s job, and demonstrating unwavering loyalty, to embodying ‘the creative.’ This persona, as characterized by experts, portrayed a more volatile and unpredictable personality type. Employees started wanting to be perceived as creative, innovative, and flexible as it was a competitive advantage against their coworkers and competitors. Now, there’s a substantial discussion within management circles about the most effective ways to manage and foster ‘creative’ individuals. This study opened doors to, for example, psychologists formulating tests for various entities such as businesses, military, and government agencies to pinpoint particularly inventive individuals and managers crafting new techniques designed to cultivate creativity within the organization itself. Consequently, the study of individual creativity took center stage, serving as a lifeline for the preservation of the corporate capitalist society from its own potential self-destruction. Yet, there was little appetite for dismantling corporate structures or handing over intellectual property rights to the engineers. Despite this, post World War II, the pinnacle of this organizational age, inklings of concern began to surface that bureaucratic structures might suffocate the spark of innovation. The early 20th century was the era of faith in systematized innovation, there wasn’t a pressing need to focus on the individual. For most of capitalism’s existence, the general assumption has been that innovation was a self-fuelling process spurred by inherent incentives that motivated individuals to invent and find new niches in the market. It’s constantly evolving and generating new products to meet ever-emerging desires, often of its own creation. In the process, he lays bare a dubious and often dark underbelly that leaves readers with the questions: What is creativity, and who does it truly serve?Īs discussed in your book, how would you characterize the symbiosis between creativity and capitalism?Ĭapitalism, by its very nature, has always been a highly inventive system. In 260 pages, Franklin offers a fresh, nuanced take on the relationship between the pursuit of profit and our need for creativity. This, perhaps unlikely, marriage has progressively groomed us into contributors in a cycle of relentless novelty, where creativity is transformed into a production line for innovative ideas ready for packaging, marketing, and sale in the global marketplace. According to Franklin, our comprehension of creativity is largely structured to fit within the constraints of capitalist ideologies. Franklin, The Cult of Creativity: A Surprsingly Recent History. The dynamics of this relationship forms the core theme of a new book by author Samuel W. Capitalism and creativity have become critical symbionts in today’s economy.
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