Are creative workers happier in Chinese cities? The influence of work, lifestyle, and amenities on urban well-being

Abstract

This paper examines two propositions in the creative-class debate in the context of China’s large cities. The first evaluates Richard Florida’s contention that creative workers enjoy higher level of well-being and are happier than blue-collar workers. The second investigates the influence of urban amenities, lifestyle, and work on creative workers’ happiness. Both propositions are analyzed in relation to China’s post-Socialist, industrial, and mining cities. Based on data from a household survey, the results indicate that Chinese creative workers are indeed happier in post-Socialist, or service-sector oriented, cities. However, creative work does not explain their happiness. Stable social sites that reinforce authentic experience of urban cultural amenities (e.g. the teahouse rather than modern coffeehouses, bars, and theaters) are a significant factor for creative-class happiness in post-Socialist Chinese cities. However, creative work is more likely to explain creative-class happiness in mining cities. Further, our study found that blue-collar workers report a higher level of happiness in those settings with less pronounced inter- and intra-class distinctions at the workplace—in those places where power and status are more evenly distributed.

Keywords:

• happiness
• creative class
• working class
• Chinese cities

Acknowledgment

We thank Richard Shearmur and four reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of the paper.

Notes

1. Performing regressions with city fixed effects will likely be suspect with a city that has fewer than 30 observations.