Introduction

Abstract

Creativity. Nothing is as it seems. Or so it appears. Underneath the surface events of our lives, entwined with the beliefs that we have about the way the world works and the myths we use to prop them up, are forces at work that we may not recognize or even dare acknowledge. At the same time the choices we make as human beings in our everyday lives, and the creative decisions they entail, are not just simply imposed on us by those deep forces at play. This complex interplay of agency and structure can be explained in a number of ways. As an example, against the belief that creativity is an individually based phenomenon centred on extraordinary people are ranged a series of theories, concepts and evidence bases that serve to bring Western myths about creativity into sharp relief. This book tries to set aside the myths and often uncritically held beliefs, the things Pierre Bourdieu referred to as doxa or ‘the collective adhesion to the game that is both cause and effect of the existence of the game’ (Bourdieu 1996, p. 167) — as important as these appear to be in driving everyday creative action (Hesmondhalgh 2011, p. 20) — and attempts to provide evidence that creativity, as it occurs within the creative industries, can be best explained using a primarily rational approach.