The Cult of Creativity PDF Download

Author: Samuel W. Franklin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022665785X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
"Samuel Weil Franklin shows that in postwar America, the newfangled term "creativity" was the product of campaigns to harness the power of the individual to the demands of capitalist production and global hegemony. Franklin reveals that the champions of creativity were psychologists, educators, and management consultants who benefited from postwar technological progress yet worried that the resulting society might promote conformity and stifle ingenuity. Against increasingly reified institutions and systems, the "creative individual" took on a wealth of romantic, generative, and democratic associations. Creativity was the motive force behind the postwar individual, the literal spark-and cannon fodder-of progress"--

Author: Samuel W. Franklin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022665799X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
A history of how, in the mid-twentieth century, we came to believe in the concept of creativity. Named a best book of 2023 by the New Yorker and a notable book of 2023 by Behavioral Scientist. Creativity is one of American society’s signature values, 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 W. 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: Roger Canals
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1785336134
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
The current practice of the cult of María Lionza is one of the most important and yet unexplored religious practices in Venezuela. Based on long-term fieldwork, this book explores the role of images and visual culture within the cult. By adopting a relational approach, A Goddess in Motion shows how the innumerable images of this goddess—represented as an Indian, white or mestizo woman—move constantly from objects to bodies, from bodies to dreams, and from the religion domain to the art world. In short, this book is a fascinating study that sheds light on the role of visual creativity in contemporary religious manifestations.

Author: Dave Gouveia
Publisher: HOW Books
ISBN: 9781440304200
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
What is Creative Stuff? Creative Stuff is inspiring and colorful. Creative Stuff can be messy, witty and wonderful. Creative Stuff is a tool that brings humor and fun to the creative process. Creative Stuff is full of puzzles, games, activities and thought-starters. Creative Stuff is a workbook for visual creatives, and youÆre holding it right now. Exercise your imagination through interactive games and challenges, sharpen your brainpower with puzzles and brain teasers, and find inspiration when you need it most! This workbook will jumpstart creativity and brainstorming for visual thinkers—you know who you are! Every page will stimulate the senses and get those creative juices flowing fast and furious.

Author: Fredrik deBoer
Publisher: All Points Books
ISBN: 1250200385
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Named one of Vulture’s Top 10 Best Books of 2020! Leftist firebrand Fredrik deBoer exposes the lie at the heart of our educational system and demands top-to-bottom reform. Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing. Proposed reforms variously target incompetent teachers, corrupt union practices, or outdated curricula, but no one acknowledges a scientifically-proven fact that we all understand intuitively: Academic potential varies between individuals, and cannot be dramatically improved. In The Cult of Smart, educator and outspoken leftist Fredrik deBoer exposes this omission as the central flaw of our entire society, which has created and perpetuated an unjust class structure based on intellectual ability. Since cognitive talent varies from person to person, our education system can never create equal opportunity for all. Instead, it teaches our children that hierarchy and competition are natural, and that human value should be based on intelligence. These ideas are counter to everything that the left believes, but until they acknowledge the existence of individual cognitive differences, progressives remain complicit in keeping the status quo in place. This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes. We must create a world that has a place for everyone, not just the academically talented. But we’ll never achieve this dream until the Cult of Smart is destroyed.

Author: Sean Nixon
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761961987
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
The economic and cultural role of the `creative industries' has gained a new prominence and centrality in recent years. These worlds are explored here through the most emblematic creative industry: advertising. Advertising Cultures presents a case-study of the social make-up, informal cultures and subjective identities of these creative practices.

Author: Scott Jeffrey
Publisher: Creative Crayon Publishers
ISBN: 0971481555
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Why do some people seem more creative than others? How do brilliant minds gain key card access to unexplained depths of power and illumination while others struggle simply to choose a tie? Studies have demonstrated that creativity isnt necessarily linked with intelligence, yet our most profound philosophers and academic minds have yet to crack the creative genius code. Until now. The most current research into the nature of consciousnessour sense of existencehas shed new insight into and sparked provocative discussion on the origins of creative genius and the ideal conditions for channeling heightened creativity.

Author: Bill Bruford
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472053787
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
What do expert drummers do? Why do they do it? Is there anything creative about it? If so, how might that creativity inform their practice and that of others in related artistic spheres? Applying ideas from cultural psychology to findings from research into the creative behaviors of a specific subset of popular music instrumentalists, Bill Bruford demonstrates the ways in which expert drummers experience creativity in performance and offers fresh insights into in-the-moment interactional processes in music. An expert practitioner himself, Dr. Bruford draws on a cohort of internationally renowned, peak-career professionals and his own experience to guide the reader through the many dimensions of creativity in drummer performance.

Author: Meta Wagner
Publisher: Seal Press
ISBN: 1580056385
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The greatest creators in human history -- from Mozart to Meryl Streep, Jackson Pollock to Jay-Z -- don't just have talent -- they also understand their motivations for pursuing art. What's Your Creative Type? helps artists do the same in a fun and witty way. Stepping away from the hyper-focus on how people create, What's Your Creative Type? instead explores why. By identifying your creative motivation type, you'll be able to find renewed energy, overcome creative blocks, and release the artist within. Drawing from creativity theory and personality typology, each chapter of the book is devoted to a creative type, from the A-Lister seeking recognition to the Activist who wants to change the world. What's Your Creative Type? is peppered with pop-culture studies of famous artists and illustrates each type with entertaining examples from legendary figures. Whether you're a seasoned artist or writer in search of inspiration or simply looking to explore your budding creative talents and motivations, What's Your Creative Type? has fresh and reliable advice and insight for you.

Author: Diana Senechal
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538115174
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Too often our use of language has become lazy, frivolous, and even counterproductive. We rely on clichés and bromides to communicate in such a way that our intentions are lost or misinterpreted. In a culture of “takeaways” and buzzwords, it requires study and cunning to keep language alive. In Mind over Memes: Passive Listening,Toxic Talk, and Other Modern Language Follies, Diana Senechal examines words, concepts, and phrases that demand reappraisal. Targeting a variety of terms, the author contends that a “good fit” may not always be desirable; delivers a takedown of the adjective “toxic”; and argues that “social justice” must take its place among other justices. This book also includes a critique of our modern emphasis on quick answers and immediate utility. By scrutinizing words and phrases that serve contemporary fads and follies, this book stands up against the excesses of language and offers engaging alternatives. Drawing on literature, philosophy, social sciences, music, and technology, Senechal offers a rich framework to make fresh connections between topics. Combining sharp criticism, lyricism, and wit, Mind over Memes argues for judicious and imaginative speech.