Contemporary Identities of Creativity and Creative Work

Abstract

Creative workers have been celebrated internationally for their flexibility in new labour markets centred on culture, creativity and, most recently, innovation. This book draws on research with novice and established workers in a range of specialisations to explore the new meanings, aspirations and difficulties associated with a contemporary creative identification. The book investigates the difficulties and attraction of creative work as a personalised, affect-laden project, perpetually open and oriented to possibility, uncertain in its trajectory or rewards. Employing a cross- disciplinary methodology and analytic approach the book investigates the new cultural meanings in play around creative working and a creative career. It shows how classic ideals of Design and the creative arts, re-interpreted and promoted within contemporary art schools, validate the lived experience of precarious working in the global sectors of the creative and cultural industries, yet also contribute to its conflicts. 'Contemporary identities of creativity and creative work' presents a distinctive study and original findings which make it essential reading for social scientists, including social psychologists, with an interest in cultural and media studies, creativity, identity and identification and contemporary work.