What does class mean for the creative class? - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

What does class mean for the creative class?

Dr

Dave O’Brien,

ICCE,

Goldsmith’sSlide2

Introduction

Class as ‘one

of the two or three most complicated words in the English language

.’

U

nderstanding

the meaning of class for creative

workers.

U

se

class analysis to critique Floridian notions of a creative

class (again).

T

hink

through the politics of the creative class.Slide3

Iterations of class then…

Class as status relations, occupations and labour market positions (Weberian class theory)

Class as power and control of the production relationship (Marxist class theory)

Class and linguistic formations (Steadman-Jones 1983, Cannadine 1998)

The decline of class, the rise of identity and individualisation (Giddens, Beck,

etc

)Slide4

…Iterations of class: where are we now?

Class as individualisation (Savage 2000, Savage 2001

et al

)

Class as capitals

(CARs, GBCS

and associated work, Bennett

et al

2009)

‘Social distance’ (Bottero 2005)

Class as occupation and labour market position (Goldthorpe and associated work)

Class politics

and

struggles (Tyler 2015, Skeggs 2015), the ‘precariat’ (Standing 2014)

Social mobility, reemergence and the technical production of class (Sutton

T

rust, Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission)Slide5

The new politics of class (Bottero 2004)

‘New

accounts question the centrality and distinctiveness of the ‘economic’, inflate ‘class’ to include social and cultural formations, and reconfigure the causal model that historically underpinned class analysis (class position leads to consciousness and action). Finally such approaches abandon the notion of distinct or cohesive class identities or groups, focusing instead on individualized hierarchical differentiation. The project of ‘renewal’ is so broad that it can be regarded as a general account of stratification itself, rather than as a specifically ‘class’ project et

,

ironically, the problem with transforming ‘class’ in this fashion lies in not the departures from traditional class theory, but rather in what is retained. Within new accounts of ‘class’ as cultural, individualized and implicit, there is still a tendency to look back to older versions of class theory – as collective, explicit and oppositional

.

’

(

Bottero 2004:987). Slide6

A ‘creative’ class? (Florida 2002)

Over 1400 citations in 2015, 14,000 overall (Google Scholar)

Primarily an urban studies

theory (e.g.

Van Holm

2014,

Lawton

et al

2013

)

people who ‘add economic value through their creativity’ (Florida 2002:68)

Core of ‘creative’ occupations, such as cultural jobs…

With a hinterland of financial services, law, and science and technology

Creative class have a core set of attitudes, including belief in meritocracy, openness and tolerance and omnivorousness

Highly influential in public policy Slide7

Questioning the creative class

Extensive critiques e.g. Peck 2005, O’Brien 2014…

But the influence remains!

‘a

loose journalistic term akin to

sector’ (McRobbie 2015:58)

O’Brien

et al

(2016)on

LFS and occupational

differences (also Miles 2016)

‘it is nearly impossible to conceptualize a common class interest for its purported members’ Markusen (2006:1921)

And the limits of

meritocracy, openness and tolerance

Slide8

Why study creatives

(& actors as an example)?

Floridian class coherence (&

Markusen’s

2006 and Miles’ 2016 critique)

Social

mobility media issues

Cultural production questions

Sociological

dilemma-

‘Creative Class’ has a clear social life, but are we perpetuating it by offering critique?

One such critique comes by thinking about questions of class consciousness and the meaning and salience of ideas of class for understanding this, disputed, social configuration.

47 semi-structured interviews with a range of

actors

The

‘ideal type’

precarious creative

jobSlide9

What does class mean for the creative class?

Uneven distributions of the

unprompted

language of class

Least likely to use class, unprompted, were the affluent origin,

stable mobility, male interviewees

(Savage

et al

2001,

Reay

1998)

Class vital

to the

long range mobile

Class as ‘

ordinaryness

’ and unease with the question ‘would you say you belong to a social class’

The

cultural basis of class

Class as conflict

Intersectional experiences- precariousness and security, the ‘default’ of whitenessSlide10

The modest gent of the creative class (Miles et al 2011, Miles and Savage 2012)

Middle class origin men over 30 did not use

repertoires

of class as standard vocabulary

5 interviewees, as compared with only 2,

didn

’

t include terms of class in their self descriptions

Less clear divisions for

women

,

working class origin men

Class was the language of majority of younger people (under 30s)…but lots of awkwardness when asked directly about class!Slide11

‘

being successful doesn’t actually have anything to do with class in terms of getting

jobs’

‘

Modest’

narratives

‘I

can’t remember them being really pushed for money. Certainly my brother going to the same school as I did was helped by the fact that I had got a scholarship and they might not have been able

to…You

know we always had a piano. I suppose we were always middle class and there was money for music lessons and I learnt to play

cricket and

there was never any suggestion that they couldn’t find the

money. And

so yeah on the whole I suppose fairly comfortably well off but never rich I think. They don’t have a second home

.’

Simon, 40s, Middle Class origin, White

‘I

never felt embarrassed or worried about my class background. I sometimes felt out of place or inexperienced or am I good enough that is I suppose the anxieties that most people

have, but

I

don't

think I worried so much about my class because

I

didn’t perceive I came from a particular class anyway. I didn’t feel working class. I didn’t feel upper class I suppose I am classically middle class really…I never felt that I had a chip on my shoulder or any hard and fast feelings about my

class’

Timothy, 50s, Middle Class origin, WhiteSlide12

And hard work

‘You have to work very, very hard to find work. You really do and even now when I have been in the business since the age of 22 or whatever I have to, and even though I have got a reasonably good agent now I have to still knock on doors, write letters, send emails, find out what is going on and yahoo have to be very tenacious and you know determined and I think determination counts for a huge amount in this business and of course that is a quality that is not to do with people’s class that is to do with how much you want it or how much time you can spend or are prepared to put into it. So in that respect class doesn’t come into it.’

Timothy, 50s, Middle Class origin, WhiteSlide13

Masculine defensive disavowal

I

rarely think about the idea of social class. I think it is an anachronistic way of describing the world

. I

don’t think you can stratify society. I think people are what they are. Some people are driven and move around and do amazing things

and

then other people are more; that is to do with personality and other more indefinable things and to then try and generalise about that I think is to demean mankind.

do

you think class matters in

society?

No I think far too much is made of it. Far too much and it is perpetuated. I am not quite sure why it is perpetuated I think its because it is easy to knock people down

I

know that some of my Oxbridge friends are no more intelligent than I am. I can build my bathroom and do all sorts of things and they can’t even wire a plug. Yeah they might be able to discuss the wider aspects of philosophy but it is not that helpful in everyday society

.’

Chris 40s Male Working Class origin

Slide14

But not for the rest of the long range mobile- heavily invested in language of class

‘I

am from a working class background from the East End of

Glasgow…Most

of my year was middle class. There was a few who were working class like me but for the most part it was middle class students. All the teachers are middle class and upper middle class.

I

think they saw me as quite rebellious

.’ James, 40s, Male, Working Class origin

‘That

is my background and so ordinary working class

background’

Daniel, 50s, Male, Working Class origin

‘My parents were both I suppose what you would describe as white collar workers and so they both were office workers but identified very much as working class, but as often happens in that kind of environment I was state school educated but when you are in a community that isn’t very mixed class wise you don’t move or think about class very

much…

he said to me I know that you identify very strongly as a woman,

but do you see yourself as a working class

person?

It is not a question I had ever thought about I said it has never really occurred to me that I am a working class person, you know mum and dad work in offices and they used to do a pools round on a Thursday night for a bit of extra cash and we have got a fridge do you know what I mean’

Jean, 40s, Female, Working Class origin  Slide15

What does class mean? (Savage

et al

2015)

‘the

thing about these sorts of class categorisations is that they always feel too general

.’

‘I

kind of dislike the

question’

‘That

to me is a very limited way of sort of looking at realty or looking at different

people’

‘Is

it class or is it money. I think money buys you class.

’

‘Class

doesn’t matter. Money

matters’

‘I

don't

like that question. I don’t know

.’

‘Yeah

I guess I am aware of it. I don’t know if I kind of agree with the class system but I guess I would be middle class.

Do you find it easy or difficult?

I don’t really care. It doesn’t bother me because I don’t do

that.’Slide16

Middle. Isn’t everyone?

‘I

probably wouldn’t do. I find the whole idea of social class deeply annoying and I wonder if it is because I don’t really fit into one of the boxes in a neat way. Like I am almost not working class enough because I have got a higher education and I have moved away but on the other hand I don’t own my own property and I don’t have the same salary as a lot of my friends because I am still best mates with all my friends from school and they are all teachers and married and so their sort of combined income for their household would probably be about 60 to 80 grand whereas our combined income is usually about

40’

Gemma

30s, Female, socially mobile origins, Slide17

Ordinariness(2)

‘If

anyone said what class are you I would probably go well my parents are middle class. Yeah if I had to attribute it I don’t know if it is appropriate because I have had times when, and I don’t know how we are qualifying class and are we qualifying it as money or behaviour but I have had times when I have been so poor that I have had to walk home from town for 8 miles, but and not eating properly and there was a time when I thought I had a stomach ulcer because I was so hungry but I have got a roof over my head which actually you know the vast majority of people here don’t. So yeah I guess I would say I was middle class

.’

Rachael, 30s, Female, Middle Class origin Slide18

Ordinariness (3)

‘I

think, well I think it just comes from having privileges or some sort of the upbringing that allows you to do a lot of stuff which means, and then have the money to sort of go to the more prestigious places. It takes a lot of stress out of your existence. When I do work in London and I just think I feel so different from them, it feels like they are a different class to me and they are just very posh. I don’t know if it is a class thing really but I think its definitely to do with money and the privileges and the connections and the opportunities

.’

Elizabeth, 30s, Female, Middle Class origins Slide19

Class as culture

‘

It

is the not exposed to culture in the same way as people from middle class backgrounds, upper middle class backgrounds are and I think that is where it is really, really sad.

‘ Hadrian, 30s, Middle Class origins

‘

I

think my tastes and my interests are not particular working class

interests.

What

does that mean

?

I

like classical texts and I know a lot of people working class people who wouldn’t, actually I think I am the only one and I like all varieties of music and I like food, I like to travel, I like art, I just, well then again maybe that is unfair to working class people but art is seen as bourgeois I

don't

know

.’ Richard, 20s, Working Class origins

‘I

tend to see class very much in cultural

terms, my

take on class is very much a cultural one in terms of understanding social currency

.’

Albert, 50s, Middle Class origins

‘In

some senses I think we are now when it comes to employment pretty much a mush. There is no class there. On the other hand when I think it comes to things which are equally as important such as education and culture it very much is a class thing

.’ Janet,

50s, Middle Class originsSlide20

Class as cultural consumption, as social relations

‘I

feel I have developed middle class taste and so I smoke Vogues and drink whisky and my local shop

is

Sainsburys

. I

probably have developed middle class tastes but am still completely impoverished and don’t know where I am going to get my next meal from or pay bills but when I see old school friends and stuff they feel I am the one that got away. You know she is living in

London.’

Lynne, 20s F, working class originsSlide21

Relational ordinariness

and cultural consumption

I don’t see myself as middle class at all like but I don’t see myself, and maybe that is because of the job I do as well and I mix with loads of clients

as

well who are from all different backgrounds. I don’t know. It is like going to the

theatre, then

you are in a roomful who go to theatre all the time and you think these are middle class people aren’t they. We are not middle class. These are real middle class

people.’

Annette 40s Female ‘lower’ middle class parentsSlide22

Ordinariness, boundaries, conflict

‘we

live in an age now where it is very tolerant of anyone’s background, colour, and class.’

But

class politics and consciousness still exists for this interviewee:

‘

England is very classist and if anything if you have been to like private school and university now you are made to feel you know guilty… I don’t feel working class people are hard done by at all. I mean at all.

’

Martin,

30s

,Male, Middle Class originSlide23

Resistance to classification

‘do

you normally think of yourself as being part of a social

class?

I tend to not. I am not a massive label person.

Do

you think class still matters in Britain today?

Yes. I don’t think it should but I think it does. I think it is very, very a big part of everything we do. I mean what job you get, what job you have or how successful you are in life is very defined by what social background you have or what social area you mix with

.’

David, 20s, Male, middle class originSlide24

Gender and class: security, precariousness…and conflict?

‘comfortable middle class background.’

Gina, 40s, Female, Middle Class origins

‘

It is hard isn’t it? It is a really interesting question. I don’t, when I think about it I don’t consider myself to be any particular class

. But

I

don’t

have any plans, I don’t have any savings for the future I don’t have any of that but I need to start.’

Sally, 40s, Female, Middle Class

origin

‘

I remember when I was starting out and people get really

chippy

to me about having gone to the university that I went to and that really used to piss me off as well became I don’t think these things should define us and yet somehow they do.

’

Sarah,

40s, Female, Middle Class originSlide25

And for younger women too

‘Yeah

I am middle

class. I

feel very secure and confident and I feel that, I know that I have a foundation that is not necessarily about class but my family and there is a financial thing I think that I had. I was given time and space and financial support to try something I liked and I think I do know that that is a

privilege…

at

drama school it was not cool to be middle class. It was not interesting and it meant that you didn’t feel things so deeply and I felt that really strongly and it really frustrated me and there was the snobbery, the reverse snobbery there and being like posh girl, posh totty, posh this, posh that whereas there seemed to be a weight and gravitas about a working class actor that came for free, but then in the industry I know that I go for, there is a fashion for period dramas and I know that I am on the list you know. If there is a fashion for working class sort of kitchen sink kind of dramas which will come back in force in a few years time I won’t be on the list and that is a shame for me

.’

Kate, 20s, Female, Middle Class originSlide26

Race remains (Rollock

et al 2015)

‘I

don’t know how to do a Jamaican accent. I just don’t know how to do patois and all that kind of stuff it is not natural in my make up and so I sound terrible and I really, really have to work at it but I am expected to know that. It is expected for me to be naturally because of my colour

.’

‘Who

then do you think gets to be successful in your

profession?

‘At

the moment it is very much those who reflect or mirror the people that are culturally dominant which is white middle class. You have your occasional people of colour, but you only have to look at how many British Chinese actors and especially black actors that have ended up going to America in order to be rehired over here because now they are recognised

.’

‘Sometimes

colour you see it as not a, colour can sometimes wipe away class. It is like in some bizarre way us people of course are seen not to have a class system within

us….It

is not a meritocracy it is about what a middle class white elite wants us to be

.’Slide27

The occupational basis of the creative ‘class’

‘

W

ould

you describe yourself as belonging to a particular social class.

It is a really difficult one because I say I am working class but I am middle class now and I would say if you are an actor you are middle class. You are in a profession, you are in an environment that is not working class you know but me as a person I would identify as being working class. It is straddling both worlds and not quite belonging to either it is a really weird thing

.’

Daniel, 50s, Male, Working Class

originSlide28

Conclusion(1): The class that isn’t in itself or for itself

As Markusen (2006) and Miles (2016) argue, it is hard to sustain the ‘creative class’ as a coherent entity.

The analysis of the use of class by creative workers supports this from a new perspective.

How

uneven

the meaning of class is, how

individualised

(as a positioning device), how long range mobile have

kept

class as an

identity…

And class is conflict, even as it is kept at a distance (Cannadine 1998).

Individualisation, meritocracy, and diversity and openness all seemingly present in interviewees’ attitudes (Florida 2002:77)

This sense of conflict directly contradicts Floridian notions of tolerance, openness and meritocracy. Even disavowals of class drew boundaries.Slide29

Conclusion (2)

Bottero’s

work should be re-examined in the context of class consciousness and the political projects desired by critics of the creative class (e.g. McRobbie 2016) or precarious work (Standing 2014)

‘

why,

and under what circumstances, hierarchically differentiated groups adopt explicit class

discourses

’ (Bottero 2004)

Complex

sense of class

consciousness

, partially due to

occupational structure

, partially due to

narratives and meanings of

class

(esp.

with older men

).

Gents, Culture,

Hierarchy, Ordinariness

Security, Mobility, Money…what is the basis for the politics of the creative class?