The political economy of ‘creative industries’

Abstract

This article critically examines the fundamental premise of the creative industries discourse: human creativity as a distinctive input in the production process is the core source of economic value generation. It points out that this discourse emerged within the political-economic context of our time where creativity and knowledge are celebrated, while human labour itself as a factor of production and social force is increasingly de-legitimised and marginalised. The article argues that the radical potential in the discourse (the labour-value nexus) has failed to be recognised, and asks how it can be rediscovered and linked to contemporary socio-economic debates. Turning its attention to the creativity residing in the cultural sector, this article also argues that we should better understand its economic characteristics (productivity-low) and social consequences (diversity-high), and their implications for cultural policy.