Week 2      

The rise of new media industries, such as web production facilities and internet start-ups, has been linked to the rise in a ‘creative class’ by authors such as Richard Florida. In this lecture we will look at his claim that there are key social identities that stimulate innovation in local economies. We will also examine the ways in which sociologists have approached the study of cultural industries, and how these are linked to specific places, such as San Francisco and parts of London.

Florida, R. (2002) The Rise of the Creative Class. New York, Basic Books
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Hesmondhalgh, D. (2002) The Cultural Industries. London, Sage

Pratt, A. (2004) 'The Cultural Economy: A call for spatialized ‘production of culture’ perspectives' International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol 7, No 1, 117-128 [Electronic journal]

Pratt, A (2002) 'Hot Jobs in Cool Places. The Material Cultures of New Media Product Spaces: The Case of South of the Market, San Francisco'. Information, Communication and Society, Vol 5, No 1, 27-50

Web Resources:

Recent articles by Richard Florida can be found here

Look particularly at his working papers on ‘Creativity and Cities’ and ‘Tolerance and Technology’ (ie the first two working papers. You can download both).

Many of Andy Pratt’s articles are available in PDF form from the LSE website

Week 3      

Week 4