All entries for December 2011

Seeing people as classes in the creative industries

Yesterday I took part in a discussion at City University about 'Social Class, Participation and Representation in the Creative Industries'. I was on a panel with Owen Jones, author of Chavs: The demonization of the working class and Martin Spence from the media and entertainment industry union BECTU. You can read a version of my contribution to the debate via my academia.edu page, here.

Together with the audience we kicked around the complexities of the issue of class for the creative industries. A couple of things struck me about the discussion.

Firstly it was hard to bracket off the specifics of the issue of class to the creative industries from the broader issues of class inequality in society as a whole. Maybe there should be no surprise in that. The creative industries are industries after all and class, whatever else it is, is a category that emerges from economic relationships.

Secondly it is hard to talk coherently about class in debates about representation because the indicators of class appear far less solid than other kinds of indicators of identity, such as gender or ethnicity. People are classed, and class themselves in relation to others. It's difficult to do much empirically with the complexities of that beyond the rather unsatisfying conclusion that, as analysts of a specific sector, we know what 'class' is when we see it.

One thing the panellists did broadly agree on was that unpaid internships in the creative industries were a bad thing - ultimately limiting the types of people able to enter the sector. Imagine the resources necessary to survive in London, or any other creative city, for an extensive period of time without an income. A relatively wealthy family support network is a pre-requisite for even trying. This has a knock-on effect on the range of experiences which creative workers can draw on in their creative work.

The solutions to that as a problem were harder to determine - and there seemed to be a gap in the research about the experience of interns in this sector that needs to be filled. Solutions from the audience and panel ranged from the managerial (e.g. apprenticeships) to the revolutionary. It is gratifying to learn that there are support and campaign groups for interns emerging, with an eye on the fact that organization and refusal have always been useful tools in righting inequalities in the labour market.

It's worth remembering too that those working class voices that emerged in British popular culture in the post-war period did so from a different context - notably one with a more social democratic welfare state underpinning them. If we want a more inclusive society, and more inclusive creative industries that give a voice to it, maybe reflecting on that is the best place to start.

Thanks to Kate Oakley for the invite and to the panel and participants for an interesting discussion.

David Wright : 14 Dec 2011 14:54 |  Tags: Class Creative Industries Representation |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem