Abstract
Reviewed by: Sandra Roper, The Open University, UK
Contemporary Identities of Creativity and Creative Work is grounded in empirical work undertaken from 2005 to 2007, and the authors acknowledge that the book was written ‘at a particular socio-historic and cultural conjunction when creative work has lost some of the lustre it had in 2007’. They also note McRobbie’s (2010) suggestion that the ‘creative decade’ is over. However, not only does creative work continue but it remains extremely economically important. Indeed, in January 2015, new figures published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) show an increase of 9.9% in the UK creative industries with growth three times greater than the wider UK economy and accounting for 5.6% of UK jobs. This highlights the continuing relevance of this book about the individuals who drive these creative industries.
The book starts with an introduction that provides a context, considers the ways that the creative industries and creativity have been defined, and gives an overview of how the empirical work was conducted. The second chapter offers a discussion of theories of creativity and the third focuses on the person, theorizing a creative subjectivity. This is followed by four chapters which present findings from empirical research, each looking at a different aspect of the ways in which creative identifications are claimed and maintained. There is then a final chapter which pulls this all together and offers some concluding thoughts.
Taylor and Littleton employ a cross-disciplinary approach and this is apparent in the discussion of theories of creativity from different traditions and disciplines (psychology, sociology and cultural studies) and in the consideration of competing theories of the contemporary subject. Here the authors outline and critique conceptualisations of the subject including two which have been specifically invoked in discussing the cultural and creative industries. These are considered in relation to recent feminist work on the contemporary subject and the authors argue that such feminist theorization offers a more complex and less reductive approach that takes account of both affect and of the constitutive role of cultural meanings. This, they explain, is congruent with their own approach and with their narrative–discursive analysis of their interview data. Whilst some of the theories discussed use the terminology of ‘subjectivity’ and ‘subjectification’, the authors provide a clear explanation of their preference for the terms ‘identity’ and ‘identification’. As they note, these differences are not often explained and their clarification links to their rejection of the idea of contemporary creative working as subjectification, since this suggests a position that is overly complete and inescapable, offering a ‘subject who is a cultural dupe’ rather than a complex and active individual. In addition, the notion of subjectification tends to ignore the satisfactions and successes that this empirical work suggests are possible, at least for some creative workers. The narrative–discursive methodology employed in this work is also clearly explained in sufficient detail for an understanding of the analytic chapters which follow. However, interested readers might also refer to previous work, which provides more detail of this innovative methodology that draws on discourse analysis, discursive psychology and narrative analysis (Taylor & Littleton, 2006).
The first analytic chapter focuses on aspirant or novice creative workers, those who were studying at an art college when they were interviewed. As the authors make clear, this is a particularly interesting point because it involves transition to new identities. The chapter is organised to show the ways in which the participants’ life stories are constructed by looking at their retrospective, current and prospective narratives.
More general patterns in discursive constructions and career trajectories are then examined in the second analytic chapter. This shows how creative workers distance themselves from traditional aged and staged ideas about the life course. With the possibility of success often at an undetermined future date, there are challenges to providing financial security and making creative work. This leaves many creatives leading a double life as they attempt to juggle both of these demands.
The talk of more mature creative workers is considered in the next chapter. The persistence of a double life is also evident here and it is apparent that this can trouble and disrupt claims to be creative when much time is actually spent on other work. This chapter also discusses the enduring romantic image of the individual artist and the way that for many mature creatives this contrasts with their more connected and less isolated experience where they draw on their connections and can work with others.
The final analytic chapter considers the attractions of a creative career and the obstacles that may be encountered in its pursuit. According to the authors, people may be drawn to a creative career because of its perceived difference and this may be very positive but can also, perhaps more negatively, be avoidance or escape from the ordinary or from previously encountered difficulties. As the authors show, it is easier to pursue a creative career for those who are independent or able to prioritize their creative work above other aspects of life and this is less attainable for women and for people from some cultural backgrounds. Other research has found that individuals in some categories of disadvantage or ‘deficit identities’ (including women) are underrepresented in the creative workforce. Taylor and Littleton suggest that this may be compounded by lack of confidence. Creative workers must make claims about the quality and value of their work but this is so personal that it is closely tied to the worth of the individual. The suggestion therefore is that it may be problematic to make such claims where there is a deficit positioning.
This book is unusual in exploring creative work and creative identifications from the view point of the workers themselves and this brings into focus aspirations and satisfactions that may be missed or unacknowledged in accounts written from an external perspective. This focus, together with the clarity of the writing, also makes this an affecting book engaging sympathetically with the experiences of cultural workers.
Whilst this book wears its feminist credentials lightly, it is nevertheless feminist. As discussed earlier, the authors draw on feminist theorization of the subject and additionally they demonstrate the inequities inherent in pursuing a creative career that may disadvantage women and individuals from particular classed or ethnic groups.
This is a work that should be read by anyone interested in the creative industries including creative (and aspiring creative) workers themselves. With the term creative industries now applied to a very wide range of occupations, there is also much in this book that is relevant to all our working lives. Beyond this, I suggest this is a book for anyone wanting to read an engaging and rigorous discursive–narrative analysis regardless of topic. For students looking to use discursive methodologies, this provides an excellent example of empirical work. Additionally, this is relevant for anyone concerned with the construction of identities and the ways in which these are claimed and negotiated.