The Burgeoning "Creative Class"

Richard Florida posited that a new “creative class” has become the driving force in the economy today. Unlike other economists’ stratified socioeconomic views, Florida proposes that there are only two groups, the “creative class,” and the rest of the workers, “the service class.” I must say that Florida’s thesis was well-reasoned and believable. Not only does this new mode of thought seem plausible, it appears to me to be a logical characterization of class in the developed world.

However, the creators of the website creativeclassstruggle.wordpress.com greatly disagree with Florida’s perspective of class. In their view, Florida has fallaciously represented the “creative class” as a burgeoning source of virtue in today’s world. Instead, the purveyors of this site argue that the “creative class” is a malingering, trend-seeking blight on the world’s development. Rather than create new jobs, the website argues that this new “creative class” is imposing a culture that is harmful to the less-skilled workers as well as the rest of society.

One article on creativeclassstruggle.com focuses on the situation in Hamburg, Germany. There, legislators and politicians are trying to market Hamburg itself as a brand. In addition, the politicians have enacted legislation that has caused the common person to question the motives of the “creative class.” This legislation seems to be favoring the wealthy and the trend-seekers (like the work project that used city money to create a 5-star hotel). Overall, the creators of the dissident website point to spectacles like Hamburg as evidence of the malignance of the growing “creative class.”

In my view, this new class that Florida describes is far from being the malevolent, egoistic societal blight portrayed by the website overseers. I believe that Florida’s characterization of this class is simply a renaming of a section of society already long established… the innovators. Stretching as far back as the Industrial Revolution, this partition of society has driven advancements and creativity for society as a whole. I think that this “creative class” is a fundamental aspect of economic growth and for that fact I have a hard time believing the contrary things printed on the dissident website.

Overall, though each side presented a cogent, persuasive argument, I feel that Richard Florida’s categorization of the “creative class” shows more understanding of the socioeconomic system. Like Florida, I both applaud the members of this class and recognize the vital role they play in economic development. Unlike the website, I acknowledge the beneficial aspects of a class of “knowledge workers” who drive innovation and creativity in the developed world.