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Book Cover
E-book
Author Siciliano, Michael L., author.

Title Creative control : the ambivalence of work in the culture industries / Michael L. Siciliano
Published New York : Columbia University Press, [2021]
©2021

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Description 1 online resource (ix, 300 pages) : illustrations
Contents Part I. Introductions -- Creative control? -- Conflicting creativities -- Part II. SoniCo's social regime -- SoniCo's positive pole : aesthetic subjectivities and control -- SoniCo's negative pole : mitigating precarity and alienated judgment -- Part III. The future's quantified regime -- The future's positive pole : platform discipline, transience, and immersion -- The future's negative pole : compound precarity and the (infra)structure of alienated judgment -- Part IV. Conclusion -- Toward a theory of creative labor and a politics of judgment
Summary "Workers in cultural industries often say that the best part of their job is the opportunity for creativity. At the same time, profit-minded managers at both traditional firms and digital platforms exhort workers to "be creative." Even as cultural fields hold out the prospect of meaningful employment, they are marked by heightened economic precarity. What does it mean to be creative under contemporary capitalism? And how does the ideology of creativity explain workers' commitment to precarious jobs? Michael L. Siciliano draws on nearly two years of ethnographic research as a participant-observer in a Los Angeles music studio and a multichannel YouTube network to explore the contradictions of creative work. He details how such workplaces feature engaging, dynamic processes that enlist workers in organizational projects and secure their affective investment in ideas of creativity and innovation. Siciliano argues that performing creative labor entails a profound ambivalence: workers experience excitement and aesthetic engagement alongside precarity and alienation. Through close comparative analysis, he presents a theory of creative labor that accounts for the roles of embodiment, power, alienation, and technology in the contemporary workplace. Combining vivid ethnographic detail and keen sociological insight, Creative Control explains why "cool" jobs help us understand how workers can participate in their own exploitation"-- Provided by publisher
Analysis cognitive capitalism
creative labor
digital media
precarity
sociology of labor
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Michael L. Siciliano is assistant professor of sociology at Queen's University
Print version record
Subject Cultural industries.
Creative ability.
Creative ability in business.
Work -- Psychological aspects.
Creativity
creativity.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Sociology -- General.
Creative ability
Creative ability in business
Cultural industries
Work -- Psychological aspects
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2020045831
ISBN 9780231550512
0231550510