The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of the Creative Class

"All of modern society is a steady sort of Bolshevism; just killing the human thing and worshiping the mechanical thing." - D.H. Lawrence

25 years ago I wandered into Virgin Megastore in Union Square in New York City and picked up this book by Richard Florida titled The Rise of the Creative Class. The 434 page book is an enlightening read on a topic many might find boring. The recreation of the 21st Century economy. Even though time has played out with many changes over the past two decades, the question we now should ask and answer as we observed Labor Day in the United States: Was Florida's hypothesis in the book something we are now going through currently and should we re-examine it in order to realize we're transitioning into an entirely new form of labor?

Florida's dream, in which a society where the creative ethos is increasingly dominant, was unique at the time. Many missed the more subtle points he was making with his research. Even now when we analyze the book, what we find isn't that his hypothesis is bunk. It's that the Creative Class and the Creative Economy it powers is actually what is causing the current societal turbulence. Many think AI is driving this. But AI is a smokescreen. A hype bubble that is trying to co-opt the creative economy. The real power struggle is what it has always been about: the creative class, aka artists and musicians, are the waiter and waitresses at the banquet of life. Now that they could be seated at the head of the table, the power structures of the corporate and industrial economies are trying to hang on for dear life. What this means is we are finally entering the 21st Century. All transformations involve a power struggle. But with any change of power, the old will try to hang on, even consolidate their power as long as possible. Until it all collapses on themselves.

Let's go deeper.

We're in a great economic shift. What Florida foresaw in his book is now coming to fruition in 2025 even though he wrote it in 2001. If some of us are old enough to remember what our great grandparents endured as they switched from an agrarian to an industrial economy, the same thing is occurring now as we shapeshift from a knowledge to a creative economy. All of this brings massive tension and disruption. Our workplaces are changing. How we work and where we work is changing. Stress of all shapes and forms from anxiety to mood disorders are higher than ever. People are more mobile. Nomadic even. Nothing is permanent. People are not getting married. We have a greater number of "relationships" online and way less relationships in person. Gender and its meaning has taken on a whole new shape. As Florida notes, "The broad social impacts of the creative age are just beginning to be felt."

"Make America Great Again."

Why did this phrase resonate with so many? For most, they believe all of the changes the past 40 years have been driven by conspiracy theories, a "woke" population and an agenda being driven by non traditional values. Many believe there is a centralized secret society cabal of power driving these changes. A secret 4Chan. That all of these "new" values being imposed on the rest of us is hurting us. That by going backwards, we can move forward. But looking backwards is impending progress. If we could just go back to what made America great, these proponents note, then we would not have to face this new creative economy that will leave the traditional industrial power titans and knowledge nerds behind. But all of these bemoaning the passing of traditional values and traditional roles and traditional jobs are missing the point of what the creative class has seen for decades.

Societies change because we want them to. We call this progress. Progress exists not as some moral virtue but because it follows the laws of the scientific method. We find better ways of doing things. The drive of all of this change isn't mysterious. The drive of this change is the rise of human creativity as the key factor in our economy and our society. But as with all power shifts, the old order isn't going to let this pass so easily.

Many of the current debates are around what people should study and learn. Should they go to a university and pursue a degree for a white collar job? Or should they go the way of trade school and apprenticeships and pursue a blue collar job? And what about AI? It appears it's going to swallow everything and push us into a techno feudalistic society with inequality on steroids.

These are all important topics but in none of these debates has anyone presented an alternative view.

What if we are all now meant in the 21st Century to pursue a "no collar" job?

No collars ultimately eradicates class structures.

What if this is the Creative Class' biggest contribution to explaining where we are presently after taking 20 some years to get to this point?

All of the banter over return to office or flexible work, work at a desk or work from an airplane, dress in a suit or dress for comfort, learn a deep skill or learn a wide range of skills have bifurcated what is essentially a complex debate. And in all of the noise, the trolls have turned away from discussions on class and equality to other definitions that miss the point: boomers, techies, Gen Zers, liberals, conservatives, nerds, geeks, populists, etc.

Periods of transformation, like the one we are in now, are always an introduction to new economic classes who grow, take center stage, and define a new labor era. Nobody in big tech has stepped up to provide a Star Trekkian vision. Their point of view on the world is to simply replace people and labor with automation in order to drive higher share prices. For crypto to replace the old currencies. For the plot to be part Brave New World and part Snow Crash. And for the debates over future generations studying a trade to make it appear as if those jobs will always exist because there will be a surplus of income to support them. If all the white collar jobs are replaced, who pays the blue collar wages? Everything is interconnected when nobody wears a collar. In all the discussions over layoffs in droves the past two years, it's time for this Creative Class to be civic minded and involved.

"We're the Creative Class. Masters of the Fine Arts. Join us."

The members of the Creative Class on Labor Day 2025 need to see that their economic function makes us the natural, possibly the only leaders of the 21st Century moving forward. The Bezos, Musks, Scam Altmans and Zucks of the world have shown they have no plan and cannot be trusted. Big corporations layoff creatives first when putting together a "list" while keeping spreadsheet jockeys in place. For 20 years the Creative Class spent a majority of its time on itself. Making its resumes and portfolios look good. Building a personal brand. But now we need civic action. If Florida got one thing right it was this: "This is not something we can leave to the varies of chance, to the decisions of political leaders or even to the most forward-looking public policy. Nor is it a question that the Creative Class can any longer afford to ignore - unaware of its considerable power or even its own existence. To purposefully address it we must harness all of our intelligence, our energy and most important our awareness. The task of building a truly creative society is not a game of solitaire. This game, we play as a team."