活出创意——评默克罗比的《创意生活:新文化产业》

Living a Creative Life:Commentary on McRobbie,s Be Creative:Making a Living in the New Culture Industries

创意工作是当前最具吸引力的工作类别之一,但文化劳动研究者默克罗比却揭示了这个领域的另一面。在《创意生活》中,她批评了对创意产业的浪漫化看法,将其视为一种掩盖真实社会问题的话语转换。她指出,创意工作表面上是愉快的、有激情的,能使人摆脱枯燥平凡的工作,但人们必须承受劳动保障的缺失和收入的不确定性。该领域的创业者表面上摆脱了无产阶级并成为中产阶级的一员,但这未必是真正的社会流动。治理者推动创意产业,借此解决就业问题,降低社会对抗程度,并以符合主体自身追求的方式加强其自我剥削。治理者不愿帮助劳动者承担风险,却借创意产业实现劳动改革和社会革新。尽管本书分析的是欧洲的情况,但有助于我们深入研究中国的创意产业。

Creative jobs are highly attractive today. However, McRobbie, a researcher on cultural labor, attempts to uncover the other side of the story. In Be Creative, she criticizes such optimistic views,insisting that the romanticization of creative jobs is something like a transformative discourse that conceals real problems. Although creative jobs, with their pleasurable and passionate appearances, are expected to save people from monotonous and ordinary work, they also entail a lack of protection and income uncertainties. Those starting a business want to escape from the proletariat classes and become members of the middle classes. However,this does not always imply social mobility. By developing creative industries, the governor helps solve employment problems, reduces the degree of social tensions, and leads individuals exploit themselves in a way that is in accord with their own expectations. Governors are reluctant to help workers take risks, but they use creative industries to achieve labor reform and social innovation. Although this book mainly focuses on the European countries, it is nonetheless helpful for research on China’s creative industries.