The contribution of city dwellers whom fall under the category of the “creative class,” to the development of the city has brought upon many different ideas. In 2002, Richard Florida introduced a new concept in his book, “The Ride of the Creative Class,” regarding the rise of a different kind of class in connection to social and economic aspects. Creative class, as Florida explains, “brings about conceptions and new methods instead of industrial goods and is seen as the motion behind post-industrialism” (Florida, 2004). Florida’s emphasizes that if we still incorporate Marxist groupings of the proletariat or industrial working class into our understanding of class, we’re still focused on the past. In the new way of thinking, those part of the …show more content…
The articles, “A Test of the Creative Class, Social Capital and Human Capital Theories,” from the Journal of Urban Affairs, “The wrong stuff? Creative class theory and economic performance in UK cities,” from Canadian Journal of Regional Science,” and “Creative Cities and the Rise of the Dealer Class: A Critique of Richard Florida’s Approach to Urban Theory,” from International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, presents arguments against Richard Florida’s hypothesis about the creative class, leading to further thoughts concerning the validity of the developed theory. The following essay will give a detailed explanation of Florida’s view on the creative class, along with the critiques presented in the selected journal articles, as to why the hypothesis may not be valid in all …show more content…
All the individuals that fall under each of these categories is believed to create an accurate representation of economic class. As mentioned before, class is being used to represent creative skills and not the possession of physical assets. Florida’s main argument is that, “the creative class’s foundation is economic, and its economic purpose supports and notifies the people part of the group’s social, cultural, and way of living decisions,” (Florida, 2004). In other words, those part of the creative class increase economic worth using their ability to be creative and take part in activities in which they’re able to bring on significant different forms. Changes in importance, standards, and viewpoints along with the increase of the creative class is also emphasized upon. Individuality and openness are some values that the creative class hold. Also, where the creative class decides to reside greatly has to do with if the values they give importance to can be found. Cities that agree with Richard Florida’s viewpoint try to transform in a way that will attract the creative class, which will bring on many advantages. Richard Florida putting great importance on the creative class’s contribution to economic progress and devaluing the means of physical
Social and economic class is something we as Americans like to push into the back of our minds. Sometimes recognizing our class either socially or economically can almost be crippling. When individuals recognize class, limitations and judgment confront us. Instead, we should know it is important to recognize our class, but not let it define and limit us. In the essay, “Class in America”, Gregory Mantsios, founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education at the School of Professional Studies, brings to light the fact that Americans don’t talk about class and class mobility. He describes the classes in extremes, mainly focusing on the very sharp divide between the extremely wealthy and extremely poor. In contrast, George
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
Class, and the Cultural Politics of Neoliberal Urban Restructuring . The Great Cities Institute, GCP-09-02, 3. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
Proud (2014) describes Shoreditch, an area in east London as a metonym for unlucky pieces of real estate that have had the hipster formula applied to them. situates the term in space, going one further to describe hipsterfication as “Shoreditchification” However the term “hipster” has been mentioned in other geographical works such as that of David Ley and Tom Butler (1980; 1997), in the theories of “the new middle class” of gentrifiers. Hipsters have turned themselves into “self-gentrifying urban Bedouins”, “popping-off then popping-up” where ever is cheapest (Eror 2014). The perceived advantages and disadvantages that this new “creative class of the skilled, educated and hip”, bring are mixed in literature (Companella; Kotkin
Another noteworthy urban sociologist that’s invested significant research and time into gentrification is Saskia Sassen, among other topical analysis including globalization. “Gentrification was initially understood as the rehabilitation of decaying and low-income housing by middle-class outsiders in central cities. In the late 1970s a broader conceptualization of the process began to emerge, and by the early 1980s new scholarship had developed a far broader meaning of gentrification, linking it with processes of spatial, economic and social restructuring.” (Sassen 1991: 255). This account is an extract from an influential book that extended beyond the field of gentrification and summarizes its basis proficiently. In more recent and localized media, the release the documentary-film ‘In Jackson Heights’ portrayed the devastation that gentrification is causing as it plagues through Jackson Heights, Queens. One of the local businessmen interviewed is shop owner Don Tobon, stating "We live in a
In this paper, Gregory Mantsios compares and contrasts class in America. He uses facts to support his point that things are getting better for the upper class, while things are increasingly getting worse for the middle and lower classes. Throughout the paper, he demonstrates comparing and contrasting by using “myth” versus “reality”.
(p1) Broadly speaking, class is about economic and social inequality… (p6) We have a tendency for groups of advanced people to congregate together, and groups of disadvantaged people to congregate so that inequalities persist from generation to generation.
This review can be seen in the example of someone who owns a small, local business not being seen as belonging to the same class as someone who owns a nationwide corporation, despite both people owning property. They are not seen as belonging to the same class because the large corporation makes a greater impact on society than the small, local business, and generates a larger income. Those who do not own property are differentiated in the same way by Weber, except this time he analyzes them based upon what kinds of services they offer and if they themselves participate in receiving services. In his final piece about class, Weber mentions class struggle. Class struggles are where people in the same class situation react, in large numbers, in ways that are an advantageous way to materialize and achieve their interests. Weber calls the factors that bring about class struggles, and determine class situations, markets. There are three types of markets that he mentions; the labor market, the commodities market, and the capitalistic market. The labor market is where people sell labor for money, the commodities
the middle and upper class. The essay was first presented in the winter of 2006.
Jürgen Friedrich describes the phenomenon gentrification as the replacement of a lower class through a higher class society. (1)
We, as a society, feel the need to draw imaginary lines to separate ourselves whether it’s the line between color of our skin, our religion differences, our political beliefs, or the status of our class. As much as I wish there wasn’t a defining line between high class and the educated vs. low class and uneducated, there is. In Mike Rose’s narrative essay “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” he describes his mother’s lack of education and her hard labor work which is the quote on quote the blue collar working class.
In his essay “Land of Opportunity” James W. Loewen details the ignorance that most American students have towards class structure. He bemoans the fact that most textbooks completely ignore the issue of class, and when it does it is usually only mentions middle class in order to make the point that America is a “middle class country. This is particularly grievous to Loewen because he believes, “Social class is probably the single most important variable in society. From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all other social characteristics of people that we can measure.” Loewen simply believes that social class usually determine the paths that a person will take in life. (Loewen 203)
Zukin, Sharon. "Gentrification: Culture and Capital in the Urban Core." Annual Review of Sociology 13(1987): 129-147.
In this notable Ted Talk video "Do schools kill creativity?", Sir Ken Robinson discusses how public education systems demolish creativity because they believe it is essential to the academic growth and success of students. Robinson created a broad arrange of arguments to persuade the viewers to take action on this highly ignored issue, and he primarily focuses on how important creativity is. There are classes within schools that help utilize creativity, but they are not taken seriously by adults in society. Therefore, the value of creative knowledge decreases. Robinson uses an unusual combination of pathos and ethos to make an enjoyable dispute for implementing an education system that nurtures rather than eats away at creativity.
Caves, R. E. (2000). Creative industries : contracts between art and commerce / Richard E. Caves. Cambridge, Mass. ; London: Harvard University Press.