The Rise of the Creative Class

The book The Rise of the Creative Class introduces a new social class to us – the Creative Class – which has greatly increased since 1950s and is still booming today. According to Richard Florida, the author of the book, the Creative Class has deeply influenced the ways we work and leisure, our values and desires, our communities and everyday life. The great changes between 1900-to-1950s are driven by technology improvement such as the popularization of TV, video, and washing machine; while the tremendous changes between 1950-to-today are the dizzying social cultural changes that are driven by the booming of the Creative Class. The purpose of this book is to describe the Creative Ethos of our society which is the most important force behind the shift, and to illustrate how this admire of creativity has shaped the Creative Class and has transformed their work style, life style, community and everyday life. The emergence of the Creative Class is the result of New Economy 's demand for creativity. Today 's economy is fundamentally a Creative Economy: big competitive advantages of products are derived from new designs or new accessories; new inventions are created to flourish business market; new management norms are applied to adapt this new economy. However, creativity is "not something that can be kept in a box and trotted out when one arrives at the office" (Florida, 2002). Creativity must be cultivated and motivated under appropriate social atmosphere, and nurtured by employers, by people themselves and by the communities where they locate. For the sake of this demand, the creative ethos prevails in our society and has become the behind force to reshape our social structure. The Creative Class is used by the author to define people who add economic value through their creativity. It includes a good many knowledge workers, symbolic analysts and professional and technical workers. It is defined as an economic class; however, the economic function also determines

References: Florida, R. (2002). The rise of the creative class. New York: Basic Books. Scott, D. (1993). Time scarcity and its implications for leisure behavior and leisure delivery. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration,11(3), 51-60.