Culture and Creativity by Claudio E Benzecry
Where does creativity come from? How do new ideas emerge, take shape, become materialized into products, and gain acceptance? Culture and Creativity offers a compelling account of creativity as a fundamentally social process.
Moving beyond individualistic and psychological explanations, this book explores how creativity is shaped by cultural norms, knowledge exchange, material conditions, cognitive process, social networks, and organizational structures. Drawing on a wide range of interdisciplinary research, it examines the collective dynamics behind innovation in areas as diverse as art, cuisine, music, science, and technology. Structured around four key themes – culture, materiality, cognition, and social organization – each chapter introduces foundational theories, engages contemporary debates, and explores case studies of how creativity happens in practice.
Written in an accessible yet rigorous style, Culture and Creativity is an essential resource for students and scholars in the social sciences and humanities, as well as anyone interested in understanding creativity. It sets a new agenda for viewing creativity not as a mysterious force but as a patterned, explainable, and deeply embedded feature of social life.
-
Meanings of Life in Contemporary Ireland
-
Protest
-
Post-Transformation and the Civil Sphere in Central and Eastern Europe
-
Semantics of Violence
-
The Cultural Sociology of Reading
-
The Greek Crisis and Its Cultural Origins
-
Memory, Trauma, and Identity
-
Finding Gallipoli
-
The Cultural Sociology of Art and Music
-
The Ponytail
-
The Culture of Markets
-
Seeking Authenticity in Place, Culture, and the Self
-
Politics of Meaning/Meaning of Politics
-
Out of Character
-
Central Bank Independence
-
Global Injustice Symbols and Social Movements
-
Reinventing Evidence in Social Inquiry
-
Dramatic Intellectuals
-
Boxing, the Gym, and Men
-
Angry Abolitionists and the Rhetoric of Slavery
-
A Performative Feel for the Game
-
The Courage for Civil Repair
-
Science under Siege
-
Sociology as a Human Science
-
Whites Recall the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham
-
Contemporary Journalism in the US and Germany
-
Performing Punk
-
Constructing Irish National Identity
-
The Diocese's Darkest Chapter
-
Liberal Barbarism
-
The Cultural Trauma of Decolonization
-
A Cultural Sociology of Anglican Mission and the Indian Residential Schools in Canada
-
The Boundaries of Belonging
-
Interpreting Clifford Geertz
"Creativity is in high demandToday, not only artists but almost everyone is expected to be creative. But what is creativity, and how is it accomplished? To address these questions, Benzecry and Leschziner have written a highly relevant book that draws on an impressive range of sources. It is an excellent starting point for understanding the role and production of creativity in contemporary society."
Patrik Aspers, University of St. Gallen
"In Culture and Creativity, Benzecry and Leschziner ask how and why humans do things that others value and strive to emulate. They answer that mundane processes of social and economic life, not moments of glorious insight, is the stuff of cultural and material advance. This book is intellectually ambitious and demystifying; important in a worldly way."
Harvey Molotch, author of Where Stuff Comes From
"Creativity has become a mantra of our age, but we still cling to myths of solitary genius. Culture and Creativity reveals how innovation actually emerges from cultures, institutions, careers, and collaborations that make new work possible, visible, and valuable—and why that matters for how we study and organize creative work today."
Richard Florida, University of Toronto
"Culture and Creativity compellingly brings into conversation a variety of different perspectives, from cognitive to environmental, in the ever-expanding field of creativity studies. Comprehensive and engagingly-written, this is a significant contribution to scholarship and a clear cross-disciplinary introduction for scholars of creativity from any field in the social sciences or humanities."
Kathy Giuffre, Colorado College
Vanina Leschziner is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781509546862 |
| ISBN 10 | 1509546863 |
| Title | Culture and Creativity |
| Author | Claudio E Benzecry |
| Series | Cultural Sociology |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Polity Press |
| Year published | 2026-10-22 |
| Number of pages | 180 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |