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The Rise of the Creative Class gives
us a provocative new way to think about why we live as we
do today -- and where we might be headed. In a book that
weaves storytelling with a massive body of research, Richard
Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a
host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society:
the growing role of creativity in our economy.
Just as William Whyte"s 1956 classic
The Organization Man showed how the organizational
ethos of that age permeated every aspect of life, Florida
describes a society in which the creative ethos is increasingly
dominant. Millions of us are beginning to work and live
much as creative types like artists ands scientists always
have -- with the result that our values and tastes, our
personal relationships, our choices of where to live, and
even our sense and use of time are changing. Leading the
shift are the nearly 38 million Americans in many diverse
fields who create for a living -- the Creative Class.
The Rise of the Creative Class chronicles
the ongoing sea change in people's choices and attitudes,
and shows not only what's happening but also how it stems
from a fundamental economic change. The Creative Class now
comprises more than thirty percent of the entire workforce.
The choices these people make already had a huge economic
impact, and in the future they will determine how the workplace
is organized, what companies will prosper or go bankrupt,
and even which cities will thrive or whither.
Richard Florida is H. John Heinz III
Professor of Regional Development, Heinz School of Public
Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University. A columnist
for Information Week, he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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