Minor Sociology of creative industries

During our time together, the sociological approach will be introduced and its merits for understanding the issues of the cultural and creative industries. Most of all, after this course, you will have the conceptual and methodological tools to make your own research in the domain you are the most interested in.

We begin by examining the place of techniques in societies, then we go back to the industrialization and urbanization of the 19th century, then we examine the development of communication techniques and media in the 20th century, and the rise of the publics, which bring us to the invention designated by Theodore Adorno as "Cultural Industry".
And as Michel De Certeau remarks, it is not only culture but the whole everyday life that is industrialized. From then on, the rise of communities and of innovations by use will first contradict all of Adorno's predictions, but then the industries will regain (partial) control by the development of advanced forms of "community management".
Finally, we will be able to understand the new place that creativity is taking in today's industries, as a criterion for recruitment and a goal of team management.
From there we will describe the consequences of these evolutions on the careers of the new "creative professions".

• Reflective essay about creativity (2 pages) - Submission deadline (on Moodle): 14/12/2023 (50% of the final grade)
• Problematized summary note based on readings (5 pages) - Submission deadline: 14/12/2023 (50% of the final grade)