The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History

A history of how, in the mid-twentieth century, we came to believe in the concept of creativity....
€36,79 EUR
€36,79 EUR
SKU: 9780226657851
Product Type: Books
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Author: Samuel Weil Franklin
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Subtotal: €36,79
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The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History by Franklin, Samuel Weil

The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History

€36,79

The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History

€36,79
Author: Samuel Weil Franklin
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
A history of how, in the mid-twentieth century, we came to believe in the concept of creativity.

Creativity is one of American society's signature values. Schools claim to foster it, businesses say they thrive on it, and countless cities say it's what makes them unique. But the idea that there is such a thing as "creativity"--and that it can be cultivated--is surprisingly recent, entering our everyday speech in the 1950s. As Samuel Weil Franklin reveals, postwar Americans created creativity, through campaigns to define and harness the power of the individual to meet the demands of American capitalism and life under the Cold War. Creativity was championed by a cluster of professionals--psychologists, engineers, and advertising people--as a cure for the conformity and alienation they feared was stifling American ingenuity. It was touted as a force of individualism and the human spirit, a new middle-class aspiration that suited the needs of corporate America and the spirit of anticommunism.

Amid increasingly rigid systems, creativity took on an air of romance; it was a more democratic quality than genius, but more rarified than mere intelligence. The term eluded clear definition, allowing all sorts of people and institutions to claim it as a solution to their problems, from corporate dullness to urban decline. Today, when creativity is constantly sought after, quantified, and maximized, Franklin's eye-opening history of the concept helps us to see what it really is, and whom it really serves.


Author: Samuel Weil Franklin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 05/22/2023
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780226657851

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