The hidden roots of the creative economy: a critical history of the concept along the twentieth century

ABSTRACT

This article delineates a critical history of the economic imaginary of the creative economy. Applying the Cultural Political Economy analytical framework, the article looks at the turning points during the twentieth and twenty-first century in which different but connected discourses over creativity in the economic sphere emerged. Multiple contributions derive from the results. First, the research adds analytical depth to the existing literature, recovering the thought of Patten and the economic and political debate about creativity during the fifties and the sixties. This operation allows the integration of these discourses and more recent ones about the creative city, creative industries, and creative class under a common framework. Overall, a clear pattern emerges, consisting of two phases: a first phase of germination, in which academic and intellectual circles conceptualise the discourses, and a second phase of dissemination, in which political figures appropriate and spread those discourses. Lastly, we argue that the discourses composing the creative economy imaginary, taken together, can be interpreted as the attempt of Western economies to trigger a new successful cycle of economic accumulation, able to replace the Fordist one.

KEYWORDS:

• Creative economy
• cultural political economy
• economic imaginary
• creative industries
• creative class

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alessandro Gerosa

Alessandro Gerosa is Postdoctoral researcher in cultural sociology at the University of Milan. Previously, he has been Postdoctoral researcher in economic sociology at the Catholic University of Milan and Visiting Scholar at the Research Institute for Cultural and Media Economies at the University of Leicester.