Creative Control: The Ambivalence of Work in the Culture Industries

Workers in cultural industries often enjoy the opportunity for creativity, but they are also often faced with economic precarity. Michael L. Siciliano's book "Creative Control" explores the contradictions of creative work by examining how workplaces feature engaging, dynamic processes that enlist workers in organizational projects while also securing their affective investment in ideas of creativity and innovation. He argues that performing creative labor entails a profound ambivalence, with workers experiencing 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.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 02 March 2021
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Workers in cultural industries often express that the most rewarding aspect of their profession is the opportunity for creativity. Simultaneously, profit-driven managers at both traditional firms and digital platforms urge workers to embrace creativity. Despite the potential for meaningful employment in cultural fields, they are characterized by heightened economic uncertainty. What does it mean to be creative in the context of contemporary capitalism? And how does the ideology of creativity explain workers' commitment to precarious jobs?

To delve into these questions, Michael L. Siciliano, drawing on nearly two years of ethnographic research as a participant-observer in a Los Angeles music studio and a multichannel YouTube network, explores the complexities of creative work. He meticulously details how these workplaces foster engaging and dynamic processes that involve workers in organizational projects, securing their emotional investment in notions of creativity and innovation. Siciliano argues that engaging in creative labor entails a profound ambivalence, as workers simultaneously experience excitement, aesthetic engagement, precarity, and alienation. Through a close comparative analysis, he presents a comprehensive theory of creative labor that accounts for the roles of embodiment, power, alienation, and technology in the contemporary workplace.

Combining vivid ethnographic detail with keen sociological insight, Creative Control offers a compelling explanation for why "cool" jobs serve as a valuable lens through which to understand how workers can participate in their own exploitation. This book sheds light on the paradoxical nature of contemporary work, where the promise of creativity and innovation is intertwined with the realities of economic precarity and worker exploitation. By examining the experiences of workers in cultural industries, Siciliano provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of the dynamics and contradictions of creative labor in the modern world.

Weight: 430g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231193818