| Anxious Creativity: When Imagination Fails Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Education; Social Sciences; Sociology of Education; Sociology & Social Policy; Psychological Science; Curriculum Studies; Social Psychology; Creativity; Social Theory; Sociology of Culture; Sociology of Work & Industry; Creativity is getting new attention in today's America--along the way revealing fault lines in U.S. culture. Surveys show people overwhelmingly seeing creativity as both a desirable trait and a work enhancement, yet most say they just aren't creative. Like beauty and wealth, creativity seems universally desired but insufficiently possessed. Businesses likewise see innovation as essential to productivity and growth, but can't bring themselves to risk new ideas. Even as one's "inner artist" is hyped by a booming self-help industry, creative education dwindles in U.S. schools. David Trend is Professor at the University of California, Irvine. His books include Elsewhere in America: The Crisis of Belonging in Contemporary Culture (2016), Worlding (2012), and The End of Reading (2010). Honored as a Getty Scholar, he is a former editor of the journals Afterimage and Socialist Review. . |